Fallout: Europa
by JPLegends
Summary: Austin is new to the former continent of the UK, and arrives just in time for a war. He ends up getting in between the Railroad and Brotherhood as well as the Super Mutant Clan led by the dangerous Yuwen and how he fights the war depends on what he does, who he recruits and who ends up surviving the London Wasteland. Rated M for intense violence and avid swearing.
1. Chapter 1: Welcome to the Continent

**IT'S FINALLY HERE! Right, so. You can still submit OCs, I still need a few. But It will be a slow start to the beginning of the story so expect this to be your timeframe for even more submissions. So, I do not own Fallout or its characters, ideas, ect. The concepts are property of Bethesda and some characters, excluding the protagonist, are fan submitted. Europa is my Original Land in this world. Enjoy Fallout: Europa!**

 **God bless, JPLegends**

* * *

FALLOUT: EUROPA

CHAPTER ONE: Welcome to the Continent

'Damn it, Austin,' the man said to himself. 'How the hell did you get in this mess?' Austin Hyperion sat in the cargo hold of a Brotherhood of Steel ship headed off to God knows where. The worst part is that Austin kind of pissed off the Brotherhood back in the Commonwealth, the area that is now a paradise thanks to one man. It is second only to one area, the Capital Wasteland, which is where Austin got in this hell hole to begin with. It was tough. The Brotherhood and Railroad, the latter of which supported by the newly revived Minutemen, were in the middle of war and Austin needed an excuse to feed the colony the Minutemen were supplying. So Austin ran off to attack a Brotherhood controlled colony, in which his plan went south in the most colossal way. He ended up having to steal a vertibird, torch the colony and run as fast as he could with the entire Brotherhood on his ass.

Austin got away-only after his vertibird got shot down-and fled to the Brotherhood ran Capital Wasteland. With the entire Commonwealth and Brotherhood after him due to the hefty price of caps put on his head, Austin was forced to hitch on a ship headed to wherever. It took him a year to infiltrate the cargo boat headed from there and back, but he made it after a ghoul managed to sneak him on. Now all he has to do is wait. After three months of constant sailing, Austin felt the boat lurch and stop. Austin finds this to be his call and looks back at his gear. He swings his pack over his shoulder, covered by a few leathers he got from some raiders he killed during his time in the Capital Wasteland. In the pack were a few essentials: stimpaks, pure water, a few bits of roast, ammunition and a few hundred bottle caps. Matching the ammo is a ten millimeter pistol. Reliable but not effective against anything less than a simple humanoid or creature you would find in the wasteland.

Austin gets in some specifically heavy cargo, mostly weaponry. He waits there, weapon at hand until he hears the clanking of something walking nearby. Likely a Brotherhood member in Power Armor here to take the cargo away. He hears more and more clanking of the insanely strong armor, and Austin prays he does not get caught. His wimpy pistol will not be able to put a dent in that armor. Eventually, the crate Austin is taking shelter in is lifted and carried for several minutes. Austin takes in the surroundings through sound, which is hard to do over the sound of the clanking of the Power Armor in desperate need of an oiling. He hears the sound of an ocean hitting rocks, the quiet sound of business related things and then the loud beating of propellers. Austin's crate gets put down, and he doesn't need the sounds to know that he is in a Vertibird. Austin gets out of the crate, and keeps low. He gets out of the small dual propeller military chopper. He looks around, seeing a small fence nearby with plenty of people outside. Austin looks around and runs straight for the fence.

He bounds and climbs up the wiring, effortlessly making it over the gate. He takes a deep breath and blends in with the crowd. He seems to be in a village of sorts, or a city. Behind him is the Brotherhood boat he was just on and apparently a military station. Minutes later, five vertibirds take off and sail into the distance. 'Thank God,' Austin thinks. 'I'm staying away from those guys for as long as I can.' He takes in his surroundings even more, the rusting of the buildings and the bizarre accents that the people speak. The sea salt in the air was pungent with the smell of radiation and the stink of people desperately in need of a shower. He sees three people looking about his type. Austin decides this is his chance to ask where he is. You can never trust anyone after the bombs dropped, and Austin learned this quickly growing up in Boston.

"Excuse me," Austin says, tapping one of three men on the shoulder. "Sorry to interrupt whatever you're doing, gentlemen. I'm new here and I just need to know exactly where I am and what is happening." The first man is slightly taller than Austin and wearing practically the exact same clothing. The only difference is that this man, all three of them for that matter, are sporting combat rifles. This man has sandy blond hair with green eyes and freckles. The second is ginger with combat armor and brown eyes, only two inches smaller than Austin. The third wears raider wear with brown hair and blue eyes. He has heavy scars crossing his face that seem to have healed. The first man turns and grins.

"Absolutely, my friend," He says in an Irish accent. "You're in Europa. Welcome to the continent! I imagine you know how to live, considering the pistol on your hip."

"Yes," Austin answers. "What do you mean by 'the continent'?" The second man straightens up and smiles.

"You're in the remains of Great Britain, apparently," He says. "Those guys apparently loved tea and ruled by a monarchy. Hard to tell though." Austin gets a bit fidgety. These guys are getting more and more suspicious.

"What about the Brotherhood?" Austin asks.

"Yes, well, you know the Railroad?" The first man says slyly.

"I thought they were a tall tale," Austin says, taken aback. "They're real?"

"They exist," The third man says. "And are much more prominent here. They get the synths here and protect them until they can start over again with lives." Synths. Austin always never thought how to thought of them. The Railroad always proclaimed that they are living beings, even though they were created in a lab by the Institute, the Boogeyman of the Commonwealth of Boston. In some cases they are. Austin ran with a man named Woodroe for a solid five months until everyone in the group realized he was a synth. Austin had never suspected that Woodroe was a machine. He seemed so human. He damn well had thoughts and emotions. It was hard to tell how to feel about them.

"What does that have to do with the Brotherhood?" Austin asks.

"The Brotherhood were recently at war with them and it never really ended," The first man says. "Now they're here, and they seem to be hell bent on annihilating every last one of the poor bastards." Austin steps back a bit from the three, as the first man's tone gets more abrasive. "There's also a group of freedom fighters founded a while ago. The Sentinels, if I remember. I've got a trip to them. It'll only take about a thousand caps." Aside from the fact that Austin doesn't have a thousand bottle caps, the fact that the three man seemed to offer a way out of the port they're in out of nowhere is suspicious enough. They'll probably drop him when they get the chance. Austin decides this is the best chance to back away.

"No thank you," Austin says. "I'll find my way." Austin tries to walk away until the first man grabs his arm. His eyes are sly and wild.

"You won't survive for a second out here, friend," The man says. "If you want protection and an escort, that'll be a thousand caps." Austin decides quickly that Austin has to take the hard way out. He spins and clocks the first man in the face. The man winces, but Austin's hand is hit with a fiery pain out of nowhere, a popping sound emanating from his wrist. Austin screams out in pain, grabbing his wrist and the man looks at him with malice. "That hurt." He says. Austin looks from man to man in a flash of a second, and focuses on the third man's scars. He realizes they haven't healed. His flesh has been torn like paper, with no muscle or blood.

They're synths.

"Shit." Austin says, thinking rapidly. The synths pull their combat rifles, which are far and away more effective than Austin's ten millimeter. Austin lunges at the synth he is closest to, forcing the rifle in the air. The synths have the rifles in the air, which means Austin has only a few seconds left. He pulls his own pistol and puts the barrel to the grappled synth's artificial stomach. He squeezes the trigger, and the bullet passes straight through the synth's stomach with a painful metal scraping sound. The synth drops his rifle, screaming in agony, and Austin uses the opportunity to throw the machine into the other two.

Using his opportunity, Austin could see the crowd panic at the sound of the gunshot and turn wild and panicked. Austin dives into the crowd, running down the street as fast as he can. He hears the synths behind him gather themselves and run after him, not firing back. Austin's heart is beating out of his chest. He looks around and dives into a building. It's a bar.

Because of course it is.

He goes to the bar and sits down, hoping the synths don't find him. A scrappy and rusty Mr. Handy approaches. The machines used to help with chores back before the war. After, what was left took to themselves and did whatever they could to survive. Quite surprising about them is that they keep the personalities they were programmed with and sometimes grow into sentience. Austin knows this well. It's happened to Assaultrons, Mr. Gutsys (a military version of the Mr. Handy) and hell, even a few Sentry Bots, the massive bastards. "What will you have, sir?" the robot says in a suave and charismatic British accent.

"If you have disinfected water, I'll take that." Austin replies. The robot rotates its three limbs. These things usually look like three legged octopi, except there are also three eye stocks and a rocket protruding from its bottom. It cleans a glass, fills it with clear water and places it on the table.

"Five caps if you will, sir." The Mr. Handy says. Austin doesn't let the politeness exterior get to him. The fact that there is a rusted buzz saw on one of the arms means that it would be wise to pay. Austin gives the currency of the wastelands, five bottle caps. What surprised Austin was that the price was so low for disinfected water, which is usually extremely hard to come by. "Thank you, sir." The Mr. Handy says, floating away to serve another customer.

"It's so cheap because there's water everywhere on the coast," the gruff voice says. "Water purifiers all over and the water is shipped all over. Probably unlike wherever you're from." Austin looks over to see a ghoul. A ghoul dressed in a black t-shirt and torn jeans. His face had the usual features of a ghoul. The sickly yellow wrinkled face and similar colored eyes, sockets where the ears and nose should be. These are the humans that survived the radiation and kept their brains intact. The ghouls who had their brains melted are rather feral, to be pleasant.

"Boston." Austin said. The ghoul nods.

"I watched you jump that fence, start the fight with those synths," The ghoul says, taking a sip of the liquid in his drink. "Not the smartest idea. Welcome to the continent, Mister…"

"Austin Hearve," Austin replies. "And you are."

"The name's HC Greene," The ghoul says. "Any questions?"

"So, synths are real?" Austin asks. Greene replies with a cough, immediately followed with a sickly cough.

"Of course," Greene replies, after getting over his fit. "The Railroad usually sends them here to lead a normal life. They would usually be safe, until recently. The Brotherhood arrived for some probably fucked up reason."

"Yeah," Austin says, the gears turning in his head. "They recently lost Boston to the Minutemen and Railroad." Greene laughs again, followed again by more sickly coughing.

"Shit, man. Never thought I'd hear of the Minutemen again," The ghoul says. "Thought they were extinct. And strong enough to take down the Brotherhood." Austin nods.

"So, why are those synths out there…." Greene suddenly turns grim.

"The synths are usually a nice development around here," Greene says. "Some join the Railroad and the Paladins, some come to be a part of society. Hell, a group of synths came together to form a rather solid company. Clean trading, security, innovations, weapons. That's the _Elefther Corp_. They're damn good at what they do. And then some turned crooked, thinking everyone is out for them and they run attacks and raids on everyone else. Damn raider group is what you just ran into. They're the _Secure Synth Society_ and they're bastards."

"What's up with the Paladins?" Austin says. Greene puts his empty glass down and puts it upside down.

"Enough questions," Greene says, standing up. "You're about to have the Synths run straight up your arse. Prepare yourself." Greene walks away, and Austin swears. A few seconds later, the synths gather around Austin. One puts his hand on the table and looks down at Austin, who is sweating trying not to make eye contact.

"Eh, bartender," the lead synth says slyly. "What's the damage deposit?"

' _Oh shit, oh shit, oh shit, oh shit.'_

Austin stares straight at the glass Greene left upside down. He stares at it fiercely. He puts his hand on the glass discreetly.

"Two hundred caps, sir." The Mr. Handy says, sounding cross. Austin takes the glass and stands up. He spins around and slams the glass right into the synth's jaw.

* * *

 **FALOUT IS HERE! WOO!**


	2. Chapter 2: A Firefight Already

**Alright! First off, I do not own Fallout or its ideas, characters, ect. Thank you to DeathDealer Inc. for your AMAZING criticism. It's always welcome, and it makes me able to make better stories. And now, thank you to "The Enclave Assassin," "Kenny ZeWolf," "mercyspace," "DeathDealer Inc" again, "CrimTheSoleSurvivor," and "LobsterMonster420" for submitting OCs. If you wish, you can still submit OCs. Enjoy the chapter!**

 **God bless, JPLegends**

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CHAPTER TWO: A Firefight Already

' _Well, this is starting well.'_

Austin jacked a synth in the face with a glass. And now, not only is his hand bleeding and not only is he in insane pain from punching a robot in the face, but the synth winces and nearly falls to the ground as well. His paper-like skin tore in multiple places and the fabric in his eyes turned from organic and green to metallic and yellow. He staggers back and his hand covers his jaw. His other two synth pals draw their rifles and Austin draws his pistol. He winces in pain and sees that there are shards of glass in his blood soaked fingers. He aims the barrel at the synth covering his mouth. His eyes are fiery and angry.

"So far," Austin says, trying not to show any far. "I'm not a fan of your Synth Society." His heart is beating out of his chest. There's eleven bullets left in his chamber. The synths have far more in their rifles and look pissed. The crowd reacts accordingly: the Mr. Handy stares in silent anticipation, and most of the crowd scatters and runs out of the bar. A few, for whatever reason, stood and drew their weapons for whatever reason. Austin counted about twelve or so standing up. Six drew laser pistols, four drew pipe pistols and two drew ten millimeters.

One of the men sporting a pipe pistol looked quite drunk, he sporadically stands up and shouts in a loud and obnoxious fashion, "WOO! BAR FIGHT! DIE, BITCHES!"

And then he throws a molotov.

"Shit shit shit shit shit shit…"

Austin said this a few billion times as he bounded over the bar and takes to cover. Glass and fire spreads all over the middle of the room and multiple people scatter. The Mr. Handy took action immediately, quickly hovering out of his bar shouting, "THAT'S NOT IN THE DAMAGE DEPOSIT, HEATHEN!" Austin could not hear what the synths were doing, but the leader made their intention obvious.

"KILL THE FUCKER!"

The Mr. Handy started cutting away at the drunk bastard who threw the Molotov and his buddies with the pipe pistols did not take too kindly to that. The synths started firing at Austin, most of the shots mainly flying over or whizzing past his head. The men with the laser pistols took action immediately, and started firing at both the drunk man's friends and the synths. Two of the synths, the leader included turned to start firing at these men. Austin emerged from cover, aiming carefully and fired five bullets into the synth who is still firing at him. The synth drops to the ground, twitching and sparking. Six bullets left. The bar is burning and every fighter left in the bar is trying to kill each other. Taking the opportunity, Austin ducks behind the cupboards and reaches for the back door handle.

"I'll pay for damage deposit later." Austin whispers to himself. Austin heads out the door and finds himself in an alleyway. There are tons of people running and screaming, and a few Brotherhood soldiers trying to keep the peace. Four men run out from the bar and look around, with combat rifles on their backs and pipe pistols on their belts. One of them points at Austin, and all of them turn to look at him. "You've got to be shitting me." Austin says in frustration. He looks to the building he is parallel to. There is a door right there. Austin throws himself into the door, crashing through it and searching his surroundings. It's a large warehouse with crates scattered here and there and staircases that lead up to a catwalk that is around the perimeter of the inside of the building. Austin potentially has seconds before he is filled with bullets. There is glass imbedded in his hand, which makes his job of firing a pistol not so easy. What to do. What to do.

Austin decides the best course of action is the most obvious one. It is the bravest option: run and hide like a bitch. He picks a random crate takes cover, enveloping himself in the shadows. Seconds later he hears the sound of footsteps and the door opening. He hears a voice say, "Find him! Viktor wants the fucker in pieces!" Austin peers out of cover for a good three seconds, seeing the four start to spread out and search the area. There is one closest to him, only a few boxes away. The other three are on the other side of the warehouse. And there is a stack of boxes rather close to the one that Austin is nearest to. Having a plan formulated, Austin gets out of sight and sneaks up on the synth closest to him.

"Psst." Austin whispers. The synth turns to face him and in an instant of foolish bravery, Austin springs and forces the hand with a pipe pistol to the side. He jabs the gun barrel into the synth's stomach, pulling the trigger, making the synth scream and drop his pistol. Then, Austin jabs the gun's barrel into the synth's mouth and pulls the trigger. The bullet passes clean through the "skull" and metallic bits fly here and there from the back of the synth's head. This takedown is not only an effective one, but a messy one. It has a tendency to get blood and gore on Austin's face from time to time. The synth falls to the ground, dead. Three synths left. Four bullets left. The synths turn and look Austin in the eyes.

"NO! JACOB," One yells. "YOU KILLED MY BEST FRIEND, DICK!"

Austin takes the boxes and scatters them onto the floor. He takes cover behind them and waits as the synths skirt their way around and fire continuously at him. Austin takes the opportunity to search the synth, Jacob. He finds some bits of roast, primarily iguana on a stick; some .45 ammo for the rifle, .38 ammo for the pistol, and some stimpaks. He grabs the rifle and ammunition, examining them. The rifle has fifteen bullets in the magazine. And there are seven spare magazines with twenty bullets inside each. Austin peers back over the cover. He sees one synth directly in front of him, reloading in cover. He sees another north east of him, firing mercilessly. The other is nowhere to be seen. Austin emerges from cover from a place where the synth firing on him can't hit and waits for the synth to poke his head out. When he does, Austin fires a bullet. The kickback is fierce, and Austin misses his mark. He squeezes the trigger again, aiming more precisely. The next bullet hits the synth square in the shoulder. The synth staggers, allowing for Austin to fire again. The next shot hits the synth in the head, which explodes into mechanical parts.

Twelve bullets in the rifle. Four in the pistol. The next synth starts stringing profanities together, and the last synth is still nowhere to be seen. Austin skirts his way through the cover, staying low and trying to be careful. His hand is stinging from the glass and possibly fractured knuckles. His heart is racing at a million miles an hour. He manages to get to a point where he flanks the synth and fires five more bullets into him. The synth sputters as he is pumped full of lead, and falls on the ground. Austin spins around, looking for the last synth. His answer comes to him in the form of a rifle stock to the back of the head. Austin head starts ringing as he falls on the floor, turning around to see the synth that popped into existence right behind him. Austin notices he pip-boy on his arm, thinking the synth possibly activated a Stealth Boy when the fight started. Damn cloaking technologies are hard to get around.

Austin gets on his knee, drawing his pistol and raising it. The synth grabs the pistols, and bends Austin's hand in a way it really should not contort. Austin screams as he drops his pistol to the ground, and the synth uses his foot to slide the weapon away. The synth then shoves Austin down on the ground and aims his combat rifle at Austin's head. Austin, stunned, can't think of anything in time before the synth pulls the trigger. So, he closes his eyes in anticipation for death. Then he hears a sound like a hammer and a sonar pulse, but Austin assumes he's alive. He opens his eyes to see the synth body burning in the stomach and sputtering on the floor. In front of Austin now is a familiar ghoul with a laser rifle, modified with a beam splitter. In short terms, a laser shotgun. "Greene?" Austin asks his new friend.

"In the flesh." Greene says, getting Austin to his feet and handing him his pistol.

"Where the hell have you been?" Austin asks, wondering if Greene planned to help fight, why didn't he come sooner.

"Keeping the SMP off your ass." Greene says.

"The what now?" Austin says, his eyebrow arching. Greene shakes his head.

"Secret Military Police," Greene says. "Those assholes with the laser pistols. They serve the mayor of Metroport. Which is the city we're in now. Like I said, welcome to the continent. You technically started that fight back there, so you are enemy number one at this moment. I just sent them on a wild goose chase on the other side of the city before they caught your sorry ass. And they'll be here shortly. So grab what you need and let's get the hell out of here."

Austin goes and loots the rest of the synths, finding more ammo, stimpaks, water and roast. He holsters his pistol and puts his new rifle on his back. Then, he and Greene get out of the warehouse and work their way through the crowd. While walking, Austin asks the most obvious question: "Where are we going?"

"Salem Motel," Greene responds. "O'Brieney doesn't care who he serves as long as he gets caps and possibly a bit of humor. We'll stay there and squat for the night, and I can fill you in on what exactly Europa is about. In exchange, I can know a bit more about you."

"And why would I want to do that?" Austin asks.

"Ever heard of the Paladins? Course you haven't, you just got here," Greene responds. "I watched you jump that fence, punch that synth in the mouth, and I got to see a bit of that firefight you happened to be in. You've got finesse. You have good aim, solid energy, tactically intelligent. It's what we as the Paladins need."

"I would want to join the Paladins why?" Austin asks.

"You don't," Greene says. "I understand. You aren't exactly trusting since coming here from Boston. I'm willing to bet your name isn't Austin Hearve. But the Paladins are full of guys like you willing to do what's right. And we need a man like you. We're fighting a turf war against the Super Mutants. And losing."

"Before I decide, can I at least fix up my fucked up hand," Austin asks. "It's not exactly good to firing…you know, a gun?"

"Of course." Greene says. The make it to Salem hotel, a massive old apartment building that takes up three blocks. The keeper, O'Brieney, was actually not a person. Surprisingly, he's a Sentry Bot. The massive bots glide around on their spider legs with wheels and have heavy ordinance attached to their arms. O'Brieney's face isn't anything out of the ordinary: a case head with red sensory lights coming out of a grille. His paint job is green and yellow. When the bot approached the two, Austin immediately got nervous. He hasn't exactly had any good interactions with these bots. But O'Brieney's voice was surprisingly chipper.

"My lads," O'Brieney says in an Irish accent mixed with metallic reverb. "You want a room, I assume, eh?" Following this statement is a jolly, genuine laugh.

"Uh…yes," Austin says. "I, erm, need a room, if you, uh, wouldn't mind…please?"

"Hahaha," O'Brieney laughs again. "No need to be nervous, laddie! I'm not like me uptight, shoot first-ask questions later models. I'll find you a room, and you can take some rest from the crazy life out there. If I had to go out and deal with those Stabstags, Leapers, or God forbid, Adaders, I'd go out of me mind!" These terms flew so far over Austin's head he could not jump and catch them. The worst creatures he's ever fought are Yao Guai, Deathclaws and Radscorpians. Much less Stabstags, Leapers and Adaders.

"Ah, yes, the mighty…Leaper," Austin says, trying to recover from the awkward spot he landed in. "Those damned things are the reason we swear."

"I like you," O'Brieney laughs jovially. "Dustin will lead you up to your room." While the two head up to their room, Greene slinked his arm around Austin's shoulder.

"You know, I like you," Greene says. "What say you and me go down to the bar tonight and get drunk as fuck tonight?" Austin grins like an idiot.

"Sounds good to me."

* * *

 **FALLOUT! Tell me what your opinions are starting off here. They are important. See you around.**


	3. Chapter 3: Greene's Debrief

**Someone help me. I can't stop playing Mass Effect: Andromeda. Someone, please help. Ahem. ANYWAYS, I do not own Fallout or its characters, ideas, ect. While Europa is my creation, most of the concepts introduced are not. OCs have been submitted by The Enclave Assassin, Kenny ZeWolf, mercyspace, DeathDealerInc.; CrimTheSoleSurvivor and LobsterMonster420 (I like that name). If you wish, you can submit your own OCs. I hope you enjoy the story!**

 **God bless, JPLegends**

* * *

CHAPTER THREE: Greene's Debrief

Austin and Greene head down into the bar of the Salem Hotel. It's a fairly crowded place, with humans, ghouls and robots walking and talking around every corner. Austin took care of his hand before they went down. He disinfected, cleaned, and reset his hand, before building a splint for good measure. After about an hour, he injected a stimpak that Greene bought. Luckily, stimpaks include a chemical that produces activity of the lymph nodes and bone marrow. Thus, leading to more cells that can repair the broken bones faster. Unfortunately this also means that although the hand was healed in a half hour, Austin had to spend that other half on the toilet. Once they had the chance, they instantly went down to the bar.

The two sat at the bar, waiting for the barista to take their order. "So," Austin started, flexing his fingers. "What's what with this place?"

"Europa? Or the Metroport?" Greene asks, leaning on the bar. His eyes have a charming gleam to them. Austin realizes there is a group of ladies eying them from a table.

"Both?" Austin asks, shrugging his shoulders. Greene starts laughing, his voice a bit raspy.

"Where to start, where to start…" Greene mutters. While Greene thinks, a man approaches them. The barista. He has wild, sandy hair, with a stubble beard. His eyes are brown and almond shaped, and he has a lean figure. There is a fiery tattoo running down his left arm. He wears a tattered black t-shirt and jeans, with an apron. He smiles.

"What'll ya have?" The barista asks in a British accent.

"Henry, you bastard," Greene says, laughing at the barista. "The hell have you been for the last three days?"

"Running port operations for the Railroad," Henry says, his head shaking. "Caps are caps. Now, what's your bloody order?"

"A beer." Greene says, Henry grabbing a bottle and sliding it toward him.

"Three caps," Henry says. "For you sir?"

"Nuka Cola. Wait," Austin says, thinking. "What types of Nuka Cola do you have?" Henry looks in the cupboard, moving drinks around.

"We've got Dark, Cherry, Victory, Orange, Grape…" Henry starts calling out.

"Okay, here's what I want," Austin says. "Take a shot each of Original, Orange, Cherry and Grape. Mix it and put it on ice. And possibly put a tiny umbrella in it, heh." Henry smirks, following Austin's instructions. He hands it to Austin after a minute.

"That'll be, uh…twelve…yeah, let's go with twelve caps," Henry says. "That's quite the order."

"It's a specialty in Boston," Austin says, taking a sip. "We call it Nuka-Frutti. With two 't's and an 'i' or course."

"Well, I'll remember that for later." Henry says, walking off after Austin gives him the caps. Greene drinks his beer, his eyes deep in thought.

"I noticed that the supplies here are rather cheap compared to the Commonwealth of Boston," Austin says, flexing his fingers. "What's that about?"

"They're more expensive in Boston," Greene asks, putting his beer down. "Well, the Metroport has a stable economy I suppose. The supply lines guarantee a steady flow of caps, and the traffic from the former United States improves that. So, we have a large supply of caps that we can use to produce supplies that are essential for life here. Thus, more caps. Rinse and repeat."

Austin whistles. "That's pretty smart." Greene takes a gulp of his beer, as Austin drinks his Nuka Cola.

"We have our esteemed Mayor Joseph Compton to thank for that," Greene says. "He keeps the economy and the people in line."

"The people?" Austin asks, in curiosity. He realizes that the group of ladies that were giving the two glances had moved tables.

"That's what the SMP are for," Greene says, with a hint of venom in his voice. "To serve and protect. They're supplied by Elefther, paid by the Mayor and they keep the city in line. Bastards."

"Sounds like you don't approve." Austin says. He gets his answer when Greene slams his bottle of beer on the table.

"They are corrupt as fuck," Greene says. "Their commander does business with the Raiders out there for chems. And not only that, but they come down hard on whatever crowd happens to commit a crime. Doesn't even matter if you are innocent. It's kill or capture first, ask questions never." Suddenly, it occurred to Austin why the SMP never questioned if Austin was defending himself.

"That's pretty bad," Austin says, his eye twitching. "I can't imagine how many innocent people are captured or killed in cold blood."

"Too many, and they love to fuck with the Metroport's citizens," Greene says. "My fiancé, Priya, got it bad all because of the SMP. Those bastards broke into our home a few years back and…"deprived her of her innocence." Right in front of my motherfucking eyes. And then they killed her for good measure. They were never held accountable, and every time I brought it up with captain fuck wad, he called me delirious." Greene claws at his face with one of his hands, tears welling in his eyes. He takes the beer bottle and smashes it against the bar. It shatters into pieces, and the beer and glass splatters all over the floor. Austin puts a hand on Greene's shoulder, and Greene puts a handful of caps on the table.

"Sorry," Greene says, pulling himself together. "I…don't enjoy talking about these things." Austin sits in silence, just waiting for something to come into his mind. Greene snivels, as he continues to pull himself together. Eventually, he just sniffs loudly, coughs and begins laughing quietly. "I'm a god damn disgusting mess." He says.

"I'm Austin Hyperion," Austin says. "Everything else I've told you is true." Austin just feels entitled to let this go after Greene revealed such a tragic thing about his life. Greene grins, an appreciative flare in his eyes. "So, erm," Austin continues, thinking. "You seemed surprised at what I've said about the economy of Boston."

"Well, yeah," Greene says. "But that's the economy. What else?"

"We have Vaults, Yao Guai, Deathclaws, awful water, unstable supply lines…"

"Jesus Christ," Greene says. "How do you live?!"

"How do you not know about the Minutmen, when you seemed to know everything else?" Austin asks, finishing his drink. Henry comes over and collects the caps.

"Mostly stories from the synths we get. Ample supply of them," Greene says. "You can ask a synth for details. They're well versed." Austin frowns, grunting. Greene laughs. "I get it, you don't exactly like the synths. But they're mostly fine. Ask Henry. He's a synth."

"No…" Austin says, arching an eyebrow. Henry nods, lifting his shirt. There is a massive hole in his chest, revealing mechanical parts. Henry puts his shirt down, grinning at Austin. "That's…but you're so human!" Austin says, eliciting a laugh from Henry.

"This man needs some of your famous vodka." Greene says, putting caps on the table. Henry pours a glass of a cloudy liquid. He slides it to Austin, who downs the drink in one gulp. Greene snorts. "Keep them coming."

"There's not much," Austin says. "This drink is pretty wea-HOLY SHIT!" The world begins tilting on its side, everything becoming a thousand times cozier. Austin hiccups, his eyes beginning to dilate. That shit has a high alcohol content and a very high absorption rate. Greene laughs, his voice full and jolly instead of raspy. Henry slides the two more drinks. Greene takes a glass and gulps it down, shaking his head.

"I told you, Austin," Greene says, raising his glass up. "We're getting drunk as fuck tonight!" Austin shakes his head, fighting the urge to throw up. He raises his glass, and they clink drinks. After gulping vodka yet again, Austin shakes his head hard. He starts laughing.

"Y'know," Austin says, laughing a bit. "I don't really drink that much."

"No shit," Greene says, deadpan. "Why not?"

"And old pal of mine…God, what's his name… Joel Massoni. An asshole, but reliable," Austin said. "We were part of a small group in the Capital Wasteland, just trying to survive. Along with Sean Woodroe, Jason McCullis…or was it Jason Woodroe and Sean McCullis…was his name even McCullis? Plus this ass named Frank Hamilton; he was a ghoul. And this redhead named Barb Jervis. Shit, man…"

"I assume you and Barb were…"

"HELL NO," Austin said, laughing now. "She and McCullis had a thing. Let's just say when we bunked up in buildings, it had a tendency to be pretty…loud. They were like the family I never had."

"No parents," Greene asks. "Siblings?"

"No," Austin says. "I was five when both parents were killed in a super mutant raid. I was only child. From there, I met Woodroe. Then, McCullis and Jervis. Hamilton, tons of others came along. They really seemed to be there for me. Then, they started dying. One by one. Woodroe was the one that lasted the longest. Hamilton died of a jet overdose. Why I don't do chems. Joel died from poison in his drink of neat whiskey. Why I don't drink. Jervis and McCullis were assassinated. Woodroe was killed for being a god damn synth. I ran before I saw anything happen to him."

"Damn," Greene says. "I'm honored that you would share such details."

"Bleh," Austin said, downing another glass. "So, what about the rest of Europa? Not Metroport, the other areas."

"London was the first to die in the nuclear fire," Greene says, downing two more drinks. "That place is a nightmare. Here is the area where are the ports are. Metroport is basically Diamond City for Boston. It _is_ Diamond City, right?" Austin nods. "Great. So, the upper areas of the UK are currently in conflict. Brotherhood and Railroad are at each other's throats, fighting for synth rights and technology."

"What is the Railroad fighting for?"

"Freedom for the synths. They haven't exactly been on the winning side, but their tactics are superb. Part of the reason why they got Boston from the Brotherhood, I guess."

"The Minutemen helped out. It was actually their commander who dealt the final blow."

"The Minutemen's commander?"

"Yeah," Austin said, downing another glass. "Something about being forced to kill someone he really cared about. A synth, was it? Also a Brotherhood soldier?"

"Well, that makes no sense."

"Yeah, well…" Austin and Greene, down another glass. Austin turns to Greene, exhaling slowly. "What about the Brotherhood?"

"To kill or capture any synths as well as take any technology away from Railroad or synth hands," Greene says, kneeling against the bar. "They're also offering protection to the colonies that can't help themselves. They seem to be passionate in what they do. And I don't really blame them for thinking we don't need the super advanced technology. It's what is causing the Paladins to lose the ground war against the Spear."

"The Spear?"

"Right," Greene says, chuckling. "I keep forgetting you're new here. The Spear is the super mutant clan run by a warlord named Yuwan. Bad fucking news, them. They got their hands on some top end tech. Plasma guns, laser guns, mini-nukes, an enhanced version of the FEV. It increased their intelligence or something like that. The best part is that Yuwan, their super mutant leader, is a damned genius."

"What?!" Austin says, laughing the idea of a super mutant being a savant off.

"You laugh now," Greene says. "He used to work for the Institute back in the Commonwealth, and ran here to avoid being assassinated. He got exposed to the FEV, a strand that he was able to modify just in time so that he kept his intelligence. His intelligence stayed, but the super mutant instinct to savagely kill set in. Eventually, he conquered a metric fuck ton of mutants to be his own. And he used his brain to start burning and killing entire colonies. They keep pushing past London, and they are really close to breaking our quarantine."

"You mean, the Paladins' quarantine?" Austin asks, gulping another bit of his drink.

"Well, yeah," Greene says, gulping his drink. "The Paladins were created to specifically keep the elements of Europa in line. So colonies could thrive. There is a bit of lore about how we fell to grace, blah blah blah. That's not important. What is important is A: making sure the Spear don't get past us and B: keeping the Paladins alive."

"Who's in charge of the effort?" Austin asks.

"You'll meet him eventually," Greene says. "Just remember the name Fudono. Sound good?"

"Ugh," Austin shakes his head. "A weird name. Great answer." Greene laughs, downing another drink.

"Trust me," Greene says. "I don't like giving off half answers, but we really shouldn't stay in Metroport very long. You've got the most corrupt force on the planet gunning for you and the Paladins are about to lose a major battle. We've been fighting for three days already. We really need to get moving after today. Buy munitions, the works. But now, here's to us." The two clink glasses, and drink. After a few minutes, Austin gets a tap on the shoulder. He turns around and sees the clique of women that were eying them from earlier. The one his is face-to-face to is a redhead with green eyes and pale skin.

* * *

 **That's a chapter out of the way! I'll be planning and trying to survive school until the next chapter shows its face. Let's do this! WOO!**


	4. Chapter 4: Meeting the Paladins

**THAT ENDING THOUGH! I'm not going to spoil anything, but now that I finished the main campaign on Mass Effect: Andromeda there might be new stories coming. And yes. The ending really is that good. It. Is. Amazing. As usual, I do not own Fallout or its characters, ideas, ect. While Europa is my creation, most of the concepts introduced are not. OCs have been submitted by The Enclave Assassin, Kenny ZeWolf, mercyspace, DeathDealerInc.; CrimTheSoleSurvivor and LobsterMonster420. If you wish, you can submit your own OCs. I hope you enjoy the story!**

 **God bless, JPLegends**

* * *

CHAPTER FOUR: Meeting the Paladins

Austin woke up the following morning with symptoms he knew were contracted from the night on the bar.

 _'My head is pounding. My head is also spinning at a billion miles per hour. My tongue feels like sand paper, and it will probably choke me if I try to swallow the molecules of spit in my mouth. I either went for a swim, or I'm sweating really hard. Oh, and I could drink an entire ocean.'_

Yup. It's a hangover.

Austin familiarized himself with his surroundings, and realized this isn't the room he rented out. But then again, there is not much left to the room anyways. The curtains are ripped, the tables are flipped, some pieces of furniture are broken, and there are tears and patches in the blankets and mattress. Not only that, but for some reason Austin also had cuts and bruises on his chest and back. Austin got his answer he saw a naked woman clinging onto his chest. Redhead, freckles, and…

 _'Holy crap,'_ Austin thought. _'That's one of the girls from Greene and I's little splurge!'_ Austin separates himself from the redhead, who is conveniently also completely coated in sweat. Explains why Austin is completely covered in sweat as well. He slapped some clothes on, washed his face and takes his time finding his gear that is scattered all over the room. He tries not to let the back of his head nag on about him having sex without even knowing who the girl is. ' _Good job, jackass.'_ Austin reminded himself within his thoughts. He left a modest note on the door before he left:

 _"Dear Redhead,_

 _Had to leave for business matters. I don't know about you, but I generally prefer knowing people before having sex with them. Maybe we could have a coffee or something when I get back._

 _From, Austin Hearve."_

Satisfied, he left and went to the lobby where he found Greene. "So, I'm assuming you woke up in bed with one of those girls from last night?" Greene asks.

"Yeah," Austin says, rubbing the nape of his neck. "Redhead."

"Raven hair," Greene says. "I dare say, you lasted longer than me. I woke up early morning and…well, let's just say that China could probably hear you two from how hard you were going at it."

"Okay, I get the picture," Austin says. "When are we going?" Greene laughed, and then started coughing his lungs out. He beat his chest and wrapped his arm around Austin's soldier.

"We're going now," Greene says. "We're catching a caravan to a small town about half a day away from here. It's a small colony called Destle's Steppe. You'll see in a bit." The two walked outside of the building, waiting outside. Austin rubbed his eyes, getting used to his new location. He really liked it in Metroport. The smell of sea salt in the air was intoxicating, and the bustle of people going about their lives. Eventually, a massive horse with boxes and packages strapped to its back walked into the small little street. It is twelve feet fall, pink and brown spotted mane with minimal fur and muscular bodies. It walked with elegance, practically gliding across the cobblestone and gravel. Austin stared in amazement at the mutated horse, which just radiated power. Greene chuckled.

"Silili," Greene says. "Horses with really amazing muscles. They're a pain to fight and a massive pain to hunt. It's the equivalent to your…brahmin?" Austin nodded. A few workers unloaded a few boxes and added a few to the "silili." A few workers approached a few of the replacing workers-including Greene and Austin-and dropped a few bottle caps into their hands. Austin stared into his hands. This man effortlessly dumped five-hundred bottle caps into his hands, and left without a word. Greene patted Austin's back and they got to moving. The silili trotted behind Austin and Greene with two more guards coming on the back. They walked through the city reaching a large gate guarded by laser turrets. Two people approached them, and Austin immediately got nervous. The clothing and gear they wear was similar to the synths he encountered earlier. And it was pretty obvious these people were part of the same synth group. Austin reached for his pistol before Greene got in between them.

"Hey hey hey!" Greene shouted. Austin pulled his pistol, and so did the two guards behind him. The synths pulled their own rifles and everyone was aiming at one another. But no one fired any weapons. Greene looked at Austin, his eyes begging him to trust him. Greene turns back to the synths, and says, "We've had enough trouble already. Just let us go and run our caravan. This is a metric fuck ton of illegal." The synths did not say a word, just aiming at the two. Austin was running through scenarios in his mind, all of them ending with him on the floor twitching. About a minute later, two random people without any armor on and forced their hands behind their back. Within seconds, they were in hand cuffs and being walked away from the caravan. Austin, confused, looked at Greene who looked disturbed.

"SMP."

"…Ah." And like that, the caravan was off. It was a fairly calm ride the entire way to Destle's Steppe. Alec took in the views that Europa had to offer. The area was very scenic, with brown organized grass as far as the eye could see. Every few times, they would run into a few cars with bones in them, run down cottages, or travelers making a camp site. The only few times they ever had to pull guns out and fight was when they ran into feral ghouls, when animals attacked, or when travelers got restless. But there was a point when about halfway through the day, they ran into a checkpoint in the middle of the road. It was made out of wood and assorted metals, with stairs leading up the sides and multiple people milling around.

'Raiders.'

But these raiders weren't normal ones like back in Boston. When they got near the checkpoint, the silili started getting antsy. Five raiders appeared out of the woodwork. Three more were on top of the checkpoint and there were four guarding the entrance. Twelve against four. Austin's group in outnumbered three to one. The five raiders approached them, with the other groups staying near the checkpoint. Austin noticed that they were suited up in military armor with weapon belts around their waists. They were armed with pipe pistols, which are simple but deadly. But what caught his eye was the rifles they were sporting. Old .45 Caliber models that look fresh off of a weapon production line since the Great War. The sights where dotted holo-markers and the barrel was a drum. Austin was sure it could spray them full of lead before they could blink.

"Sirs, we require that you pass our checkpoint in order to proceed," A raider says, trying to sound modest but coming off as smug. "If not, you'll have to go back and find a different route. The toll is a thousand caps." Austin's group combined nearly does not have enough caps. And Greene knew that this was the best way to Destle's Steppe. Greene walked forward, offering to shake the raider's hand. When the raider did not shake, Greene put his hand down.

"We're on very tight business matters," Greene says. "I know you have better things to do anyways. Maybe you could give us a discount?"

"Or you can pay the toll and there won't be trouble," The raider says, as the others start checking their rifles. "Your choice."

"I'm just saying…" Greene continues, before a raider gets in his face.

"I'm not buying it, _sir_." The raider growls.

"We don't want any trouble guys," Austin says, trying to disarm the situation. "We just need to pass through the check and we'll be set for the rest of the way. We can pay you a token of what we earn from the job."

"No. Here's how it is," the raider says. "You pay us. Or you die. And you don't want that, do you? And you don't. So pay up."

"Don't talk to my friend like that." Greene growls.

"And what're you going to do about it?" The raider says, his helmet two inches away from the raider's face.

"The fuck away from my face!" Greene says, pushing the raider back. The act of aggression makes everyone draw their weapons. The raiders aim square at Greene, and the caravan guards pull their pistols and aim for wherever. Austin only sees this ending one way. As the silili whinnies in antsy anticipation, Austin sprints forward and snatches the guard nearest to Greene's rifle away. He then bashed the butt of the rifle into the raider's face, making him fall over and cry out in pain. Austin spins his gun around as quickly as possible, squeezing the trigger at the guards in front of him. When three seconds passes, two of the men are dead. Greene pulls his shotgun and shoots the other three in point blank range, killing them. Austin fills the last man's face full of lead before they scatter.

The hail of gunfire started pelting the ground like a heavy rainstorm. The silili runs away into the nearby field and the group scatters, running away as fast as possible. Luckily, someone threw a grenade or a Molotov at the checkpoint, causing it to burst into flames and give Austin and Greene an opportunity to run in and fight. Austin runs into the checkpoints, keeping his head low. His heart was beating like a drum, and he breathed deeply. He thought about who was left. Greene and him killed the five raiders who were questioning him, which would have left seven raiders alive. And Austin did not count how many people were killed in the explosion. He wound around and took cover in an unoccupied spot of cover that no one had their eyes one. He saw Greene and waved, beckoning him. Greene booked it into cover and they waited until the fire died down. Eventually, Austin heard the raiders start talking.

"Two of 'em are dead," Someone says. "We can't find the other two."

"They killed a lot of us in seconds," Someone else says. "We need to find a kill the fuckers! Go!" Austin turns to Greene, leaning in so they can whisper.

"How close are we to the Destle's Steppe?" Austin whispers.

"Very," Greene responds. "Some Paladin scouts have to have heard that. They'll be on their way, but we can't hide forever. What do we do?"

"You good with that shotgun?" Austin asks. Greene holds it close to him, nodding. "You head forward and start killing them. If any start firing at you, I'll cover you." Austin says. Greene does not look very enthusiastic, but nods anyways. The two huddle up in a corner, watching for anyone to come by. One does show up, and he looks rather unaware of their presence. Austin nods, keeping his new .45 Caliber at the ready. Greene steps out of cover and dashes at the raider. He looks startled at the sudden appearance of Greene, and yelps in shock. He reaches for his gun, but before he can. Greene grabs his arm and flips him over his shoulder and onto the ground.

"NO, GET AWAY FROM M…" Was all the raider had time to say before Greene unloaded a shell into his chest.

"KILL HIM!" A raider yells. Greene steps into adjacent cover, waiting for the raiders to stop shooting. Austin still has a clear view of him the entire time, waiting for his chance to fire. While the raiders are shooting, three come around shooting at the cover Greene is in, maneuvering so that they have a clear shot of him. Greene, prepared, emerges quickly and fires into another raider's chest. Austin watches as the raider's torso is turned into hamburger, and blood and gore fly out of his back. He sprawls onto the floor, dead. Austin notices the two other raiders have a clear shot at Greene and takes action. He aims and fires a spray of bullets into a raider's shoulder and head, making it explode onto Greene's jacket. Austin aims at the other raider and fires, missing before the gun starts clicking.

'Of course,' Austin says. 'Great power, minimal ammo.' Before Austin could reload, Greene pulls the other raider's armed hand to the side and pushes the shotgun into the raider's gut. He fires, making blood splatter onto the ground behind him and Greene lets go. The raider, in shock, just stares at Greene before he puts the shotgun to his forehead and fires. Austin looks away before he sees the carnage, but when he looks back, Greene's jacket is a lot bloodier. They approach each other and shake hands.

"Good work." Greene says.

"You kidding, you made the magic happen." Austin says. Greene chuckles before waving it off, secretly reveling in the compliment. He whistles and the silili walks back. It looks shaken, but it otherwise seems okay. Austin and Greene approach the corpses of the other caravan guards, looking at them as they bleed out. Eventually, they decide that they need to carry the corpses back to Destle's Steppe. They quickly remove the body of any valuables, like caps, food and ammo, and get back to the trail. Within no time, Austin finds himself walking into a small community. It was in the middle of a field and a rather flat one. Austin and Greene walked their silili past a few gates, which Austin could see had amateur turrets slapped on them. Inside was a basic set up. A bar, an inn, a market place, the works. There were not too many people wandering around, but the atmosphere of the place seemed quaint and cozy.

"Welcome to Destle's Steppe," Greene says, walking through the town. "Named after Jackson Destle of the Paladins who fought until he died keeping the Spear away from Metroport. Now the Paladins are here making sure Yuwan doesn't push past any lines he's not supposed to." They get their money, hand over the silili, and head into an inn. There, it seems that an entire platoon of soldiers is huddled around a table. They look up to see Greene, and then look over to see Austin. Austin notices a different amount of faces in the crowd. There is a redheaded girl who is rather dirty and bruised up, and has an arm with what appears to be synth parts. There is a tall ogre of a man with black skin and insane muscle. There is a ghoul with a stained apron, welder's goggles and a tool belt. And there is the man in the center. A sixty-ish Japanese man who stares at Austin with eyes that could kill a behemoth. There are quite a few other people around the table, but none of them catch Austin's eyes like these men. They all wear a green jacket with a badge that has a shield with two torches as its emblem.

"Greene," the Japanese man says. "You're late. Who's your friend?"

"I had an altercation with raiders on the way here," Greene says. "This is Austin Hearve, no, Hyperion. He's an excellent fighter, an excellent shot, and don't even get me started on his word play!"

"Cut to the chase, Greene." The tall black man says. His voice is deep and like gravel.

"I want to join the cause," Austin says. "I came to Europa getting away from what I left behind. It's time I reinvent myself and make something useful of me." The paladin members look at each other, nodding.

"Right, that over there is Allison. She's our field operative and explosives expert," Greene says, pointing at the dirty redhead. "That's Bryson, our medic and gunsmith." He points at the tall man, who nods at Austin with approval. "That's Jericho, our quartermaster and certified crazy guy." The ghoul in the apron waves, sticking his tongue out. "And this is Fudono, the man who runs the show." The Japanese stares at Austin for five seconds before standing up and approaching him. He is slightly shorter than Austin, but still holds the position of unmovable power that he had when Austin saw him.

"Uh…hi." Austin said, spooked by Fudono's unfailing eye contact. Fudono looked at Greene, who nodded enthusiastically.

"You said you are new to Europa?" Fudono asks, although to Austin it seemed more like a statement. Austin nodded, not wanting to talk. "Well, then, I say you will need to know that we are currently in what folk before the Great War called Cornwall. It's large, its open, and the Spear are this close to capturing it." He holds his hand up, his index finger and thumb coming together with a very small gap in between them. "We're here to deny them any land and to make sure they don't take Cornwall. Now most of the Spear's forces are coming from a stronghold somewhere in Somerset, and they're cutting through Devon to get to here."

"Sorry, I'm-I'm new here," Austin says. "Greene said the Spear took a lot of the land. How much exactly?" Fudono stopped speaking to face Austin. His expression never changed.

"From London to Devon." Fudono replies.

"I don't know the geography." Austin says, shrugging his shoulders with a nervous grin on his face. Fudono walks back over to the map of Europa. He makes sure Austin can see it before pointing at a point near the east of the island where the ocean dips into the land.

"From here…" Fudono drags his finger all the way into the center of the bottom peninsula. "To here…and everything in between in a straight line. That's approximately ten counties, and a land mass so big we can barely dent it." Austin's heartbeat stops. Compared to the size of the rest of the country, it is fairly small. But that is hundreds of miles apart, and the entire continent is in conflict. So, nothing is actually stopping the Spear from getting past the Paladins.

"We got to find that stronghold and shut it down, and then the Paladins can finally push into Devon and potentially take back a few counties." Jericho says, his raspy voice surprisingly chipper for a ghoul.

"But we don't know where it is." Bryson says, his intimidating voice cutting through the chatter of the rest of the inn.

"This kind of seems like a big deal," Austin says, his eyebrows raising. "And Metroport is right behind us! Haven't they done anything to help?"

"No." Fudono says.

"Why?"

"Because ain't nobody want to help the Paladins…" Jericho says, crossing his arms and looking angry all of a sudden.

"But that's stupid," Austin says, laughing at the answer. "These super mutants are knocking at their door and you are the only ones helping keep them away! So it only makes sense that they…"

"I can explain later." Greene interrupts, placing a hand on Austin's shoulder.

"Right now, what's important is making sure the Spear stay away from Destle's Steppe," Fudono says. "There is a ground war happening here, near the border to Devon." Fudono points a little north-east to where Destle's Steppe is. "We can't lose that battle. But the issue is that the Spear captured a small ruined castle that they are using as a forward operating base. From there, they deploy and send everything they have at us."

"That sounds almost like strategy," Austin says. "I thought all super mutants were capable of was beating the shit out of someone until they die. Sometimes with nuclear warheads."

"That's Yuwan," Allison says, her voice quiet and soothing. "He's the one that figured out how to mix brutal super mutant tendencies with strategic war planning."

"It's because of this that our forces are being pushed back," Fudono says. "So, right now we have one option. Infiltrate and destroy the FOB."

"That's suicide." Austin says firmly.

"You jumped in at the right time then," Greene says. "Trust me, it's much worse on the battlefield." Austin groans, rubbing the bridge of his nose. He just escapes from the death trap that is Boston and now he's being sent to his death. Again.

"Okay," Austin says. "What do you need me to do?"

"You attack from two angles and infiltrate until you reach fuel tanks they use for powering their flamers." Fudono says.

"They have flamers?!" Austin shouts, his eyes widening.

"Uh…yeah." Bryson says, tilting his head to the side. Jericho looks like he is trying hard not to die from containing his laughter, and Fudono looks as stone faced as usual.

"As I was saying," Fudono says, making Austin sheepishly blush from his outburst. "You head toward the flamer containers and place explosives there. Then, you evacuate and watch the tower explode. The teams we need are Greene and Bryson attacking from the main entrance, and you and Allison coming in through the back. Allison is our explosives expert and if you are as good of a shot as Greene here says, then we'll need you in the back."

"Okay," Austin says, his posture straightening. "When do you need us leaving?"

"Immediately."

* * *

 **LONGEST. CHAPTER. EVER. I had a map of the UK out for the geography that was used in the chapter. If I offended any of my readers from the United Kingdom with the wrong geography, I'm truly sorry. I hope you enjoyed this chapter!**


	5. Chapter 5: The Spear's Tip

**You know something interesting is about to happen when Lin Manuel Miranda says he's making a musical where in the very first scene, a character eats a firework. Anyways, I do not own Fallout or its characters, ideas, ect. If you have a criticism or critique, please leave a review. Special thanks to The Enclave Assassin, Kenny ZeWolf, mercyspace, DeathDealerInc.; CrimTheSoleSurvivor and LobsterMonster420 for submitting OCs, the last one I listed actually owns the newest character Alison. So, thanks LobsterMonster420! I'll put her to good work.**

 **God bless, JPLegends**

* * *

CHAPTER FIVE: The Spear's Head

Austin, Bryson, Alison, and Greene were prone at the top of a hill, looking down at a castle. The walls looked freshly rebuilt, and were topped with barbed wire and watchtowers with super mutants in leather armor with rather powerful guns. Austin was equipped with his 10mm pistol, the combat rifle his stole from the synths, and a hunting rifle that looked so militarized it did not look like a hunting rifle anymore. Medium magazine, marksman's stock, a scope, a compensator, and a long light barrel. It's a sniper rifle now, with green colors and the symbol of a shield and two crossed torches. Austin was looking down the scope, looking at the super mutants on the watch towers.

"Pretty insane armor," Austin notes. "And some plasma rifles it looks like. Some laser pistols. And pipe rifles and pistols. Some high end inventory. Where are they getting this stuff?"

"They're building it." Bryson says, to which Austin immediately laughs at the idea.

"You're funny," Austin says, looking at Bryson, to see that his face is stone neutral. "Oh…you're…serious."

"That's Yuwan," Alison says, shrugging. "He's a genius with a heart of ice. And one strong murder fetish."

"Ugh," Austin says, wiping his hand across his forehead. "Can't we send people more equipped for the job? I mean, I saw a pretty decked out woman at the inn. She looked pretty pissed at the world. Who knows, maybe killing super mutants would help."

"How would you know?" Greene asks, his grin turning sarcastic.

"I don't know, I didn't talk to her," Austin says, staring at the castle in the distance. "How are we going about this?"

"Henry and I go in through the front," Bryson says, pulling a massive gauss rifle from his back. "You and Ali go in through the back. We search the castle and find anything that could help the war. And then, we find the flamer fuel and place the charges."

"That's…a plan," Austin says. "How do you plan to get inside?"

"I'll knock," Bryson says. "Stay in touch. My frequency 247.45. Henry, let's roll." With that, Greene and Bryson crouch walk down the hill. Austin pulls out the radio Jericho gave him before they left and tunes the radio.

"This is Austin," Austin says. "Greene, your name is Henry?"

"This is Henry Calick Greene," Greene's raspy voice chimes in. "What's your point, Hyperion?" Alison looks at Austin with a grin, and Austin shakes his head sarcastically.

"Bryson reporting in," Bryson says, his voice in a whisper. "Entering radio silence. Approaching the FOB. Begin approach."

"Copy." Alison says, her soft voice cutting through the air. Alison pulls a laser pistol from her belt, keeping an assault rifle on her back. She nods at Austin, who pulls out his respective pistol and they crouch-walk across the hill until they reach the back of the castle.

"So, Alison," Austin says, keeping an eye on the castle. "What's your story?"

"Not much to list at the moment," Alison says. "Explosive specialist, came from Boston a while ago, before the Minutemen came into power. Lost my arm back in Quincy. Got it replaced by a handy synth arm."

"Huh," Austin says, curious. "What does it do?"

"It's an arm," Alison laughs. "I'm not the luckiest girl in the world. But we can talk more about that when we're not about to go on a suicide mission."

"I'd like to know who's got my back, Alison," Austin says. "If I can trust them or not."

"You can trust me," Alison says. "Just keep your gun trained on the enemy and we'll see what happens." The two start walking down the hill and stop in some tall grass, noticing a super mutant scout placed on a watch tower. They wait in the grass, not moving until something happens on Greene's side of things. Suddenly, a massive explosion cuts through the front of the castle walls. Austin's ears ring by how loud the blast was, and he watches at bits of the wall go flying in different directions. Immediately, the wall in the front crumbles and smoke is pillaring in the air. Austin hears Greene say "shit" about thirty times straight as the sound of gunfire goes off in the distance.

"Is that Bryson's definition of knocking?" Austin says, laughing.

"Yup." Alison says. Austin sees the super mutant tear away from his job and start running to join the fight. Austin and Alison head forward at the wall and Alison stops them when they are about eight yards away. She throws a round object at the wall and covers her ears. Austin, catching on, immediately covers his ears in sync with Alison. A blinding yellow flash erupts from the wall, and a large hole appears, growing bigger as the wall slowly crumbles apart. Austin looks at Alison, a sly look on his face. Alison winks, and they pull out their pistols. Austin keeps the number of bullets currently in the chamber in his head. He has eight more magazines in his bag.

They step through the courtyard, keeping low and walking toward the building. Alison tries to grab and climb up the castle's stone wall, but it is no use. They have to find another entrance. Austin keeps against the wall, listening closely for the sounds of bullets and plasma. Out of the corner of his eye, he sees five super mutants come around the corner. "Alison, heads up!" Austin says, raising his pistol. He fires five shots, three of them landing in one of the super mutant's shoulders in between armor pieces. Within no time, red beams and green vapor start whizzing past his head. No cover in sight, and the super mutants are awfully close to them. With no other option, Austin turns in the other direction, grabbing Alison's wrist and running further away from the patrol. They take cover behind the corner, as the super mutants slowly advance. Alison peeks her head out of cover, and fires another five shots. She quickly goes back into cover, swearing as a red beam just grazes her arm. She is left with a burn on her organic flesh, and is biting her lower lip. Austin crouches, peeks out of cover and carefully aims above a super mutant's head. He fires three bullets, and the metal bury themselves in the monster's forehead before he collapses.

"Four bullets left, four mutants," Austin notes to himself, as he pulls out the sniper rifle he was given. "How fun." He aims his sniper rifle in between another super mutant's eyes, and fires. The super mutant cranes his neck to the side, and the bullet misses. Austin grunts, firing another bullet. This one buries itself in the super mutant's head, and he starts bleeding but he is not dead. Austin aims an inch lower, and the next bullet passes through this super mutant's neck, with blood spraying out of the small cavity. The super mutant collapses on the floor, and Austin sees a flash of green vapor. It hits him in the arm, and he drops the rifle, screaming in pain. The rifle as it is dropped fires a bullet, which finds its way in another super mutant's shin.

"Shit! Gah!" Austin says, looking at his smoking arm that is caked in the vaporous plasma. He rubs it on the castle's stone wall, which makes the feeling even more painful. Alison peeks out of cover again, firing more bullets from her pistol until the gun is empty. She pops back into cover, nodding as she reloads.

"Two left, Austin," Alison says. Austin breathes heavily, picking up his sniper rifle. The lasers and plasma start picking up again and start pelting the corner as they start approaching again.

"The Spear is about to light up like a Christmas tree," Austin says, thinking. "We need a way into the building, fast." Austin grabs his combat rifle and waits for the sound of lasers and plasma to get steadily louder. Eventually, the two remaining super mutants are right behind them. "HI! IT'S ME! AUSTIN!" Austin shouts, as he dives onto the floor and shoots three bullets each up the super mutants' necks. The two fall down and Austin gets back up, reconnecting with Alison. He sees five more super mutants come around the other wall, and he starts firing at the mutants. "ALISON, WE NEED A WAY IN!" They go back around the other corner and five more super mutants approach them from behind. Alison looks around and gasps. She runs for a closed cellar door and tries to open it. It is locked.

"I've got it, cover me." Austin says, kneeling down to the cellar. He takes out a bobby pin and a small screwdriver, inserting them into the cellar's lock. He hears plasma and lasers pass over his head as he works at trying to find the sweet spot. Turn first tumbler, turn second, turn three of them. Eventually, he turns the lock with the bobby pins and the lock clicks. "Alison, let's go!" Austin says, opening the cellar. Alison goes through first, then Austin, who closes and locks the door. Alison, thinking cleverly, attaches an explosive to the door.

"What's that?" Austin asks.

"An anti-tank motion based mine." Alison says, in a matter-of-fact voice. Austin grins.

"Can I marry you?"

"Later." Austin puts his combat rifle up and checks the bullets in his pistol. Four bullets, and still eight more magazines. They make their way down a straight cellar, which is held up by strong oak walls with moss growing in the dank environment. There are torches on the walls, with most of them lit but some of them are not. The sounds of bullets, lasers, and plasma is still moving around and is very prominent. Austin wonders how much Bryson and Greene are able to take on.

"Austin here," Austin says, looking around the cellar hallway. "We're inside the castle. What's your status?"

"We're still in the courtyard and pushing in," Bryson says. "We'll be in the castle in a bit. Stay frosty." Austin sees a smoggy window a bit up near the top of the wall. He motions for Alison to stop walking for a second and sprints at the wall, leaping and grabbing the window ceil. He pulls himself up and sees Greene and Bryson firing at the super mutants. The super mutants are backing up closer to the castle. Austin lets go and lands back on the ground.

"I don't get it," Austin says. "There are far more super mutants here than us. Why are they backing up?"

"Maybe a tactical retreat?" Alison suggests, shrugging her shoulders. Austin grunts, looking further down the cellar. He sees something and walks slowly down the hallway, until he sees what made him anxious. It's an explosive that is triggered with a tripwire laser. Austin takes the explosive and tears out the wiring, dismantling it. He shows it to Alison.

"You have spare stimpaks?" Austin asks.

"Yeah." Alison says, her face suddenly turning pale.

"Be prepared for trouble." Austin says. Alison nods and they go back to walking down the hallway. A bit later, they reach a staircase that leads up a level and to a door. They walk up to the door and Austin scans the door. The rims are metal, and the knob is a hatch. The locks are magnetic. He looks around for a terminal, and one is connected with wires that lead to the door. He approaches the door and hacks in to see key strokes across the timeslot. "Super mutants," Austin says to himself. "Smart super mutants." He reads over multiple words such as _butcher_ , _maimer_ , _murder_ , and _attrition_. Austin thinks for a few seconds and inputs the password as _attrition_. No luck. _Maimer_. No luck. _Murder_. Bingo.

The terminal is open and he selects the option to unlock the magnetic door. He nods at Alison and he aims his pistol at the door as she opens it. They walk in to see a series of pillars and an expanded room. They head forward and hide behind the pillars and look around. One thing they noticed immediately is that they are in a demolished foyer, with barbed wire and demolished pillars on the ground as well as circular bags of meat hanging in the air. Multiple cans and corpses are on fire in the room, and there are stairs in the back of the room that lead up and around the sides of the room that lead further into the castle. Austin looks around the pillar to see multiple super mutants gathering around the massive oak doors near the entrance to the castle. Austin instantly knows what is happening.

"They're preparing to fill set up a massive blockade to kill Bryson and Greene." Austin whispers.

"Set up the wall of death," A super mutant shouts. "We will murder these humans and feast on their flesh!" The armored super mutants set up around the door and prepare for the door to open. Austin counts them real quick. Ten super mutants in the front, five in the back, and three in the very back of the room. Austin takes a deep breath and thinks.

"Alison, when I open fire, throw some grenades or molotovs or whatever at the large group," Austin says. "We need to buy time for Bryson and Greene to get in safely." Austin holsters his pistol and pulls the sniper rifle off of his back and separates the magazine from the rifle. Four bullets. Austin puts the magazine back in and looks at Alison, who is sweating hard. Austin grabs her shoulder, in a way of saying 'we'll be fine.' Alison takes a deep breath and waits. Austin peeks his head around the corner, and aims his rifle at the three in the back. If he aims well, he should be able to take out two of the super mutants. He holds his breath, and aims in between a super mutant's eyes. He squeezes the trigger and sees that the bullet passed through the super mutant's eyes, and he is screaming in pain with his hands on his face. Austin fires again, with the bullet passing through the head, making it explode in chunks of gore and blood.

He aims again at the next super mutant, who is extremely confused. He fires, and the bullet passes right through the super mutant's neck, once again spraying blood out of the wound. The next bullet prematurely fires at the next super mutant, but misses. He goes back behind cover and reloads his sniper rifle, getting ready for the fight to break out chaotically. Alison is hurling Molotov after Molotov at the group of super mutants, who are screaming and on fire. The unorganized chaos suddenly turns murderous, as super mutants start yelling "KILL THEM! AND PUT THEIR HEADS ON PIKES!" Austin peeks his head right behind cover and aims again. He fires two shots at the last super mutant, killing him. He makes a mental note in his head. There are at most fifteen mutants left, and that is if no one died in the fire bomb. Austin hears something clang at his foot. He looks down to see a circular, green object at his foot.

'Hehehe…this was a mistake…'

"Alison, move!" Austin yells. He shoves her out of the way, and leaps out of the pillar. An explosion breaks behind him, destroying the pillar and knocking Austin on all fours. Fragments shred at Austin's back and legs, and he screams in pain. He looks back to see his legs caked in blood. He sees a super mutant in front of him, trying to flank the two. He pulls out his pistol and frantically fires, missing two shots and landing two bullets in the head before his gun starts clicking. The super mutant falls, and Austin gets into cover, his legs throbbing and quickly going numb. He reloads his pistol and looks around. He tries to count as many super mutants as fast as he can, and he counts about seven out of fifteen. Three of them see Austin and start converging, firing at his cover.

"Excellent. Just excellent," Austin says. "First, I take plasma to the arm. Now, I've got broken legs. I love the Paladins. Just love them." He peeks out of cover, seeing the super mutants advancing. "Alison, I need a stimpak!" Austin takes his leg and puts it back in place, sucking in air through his teeth. He does the same to his other leg. He peeks back out of cover, and starts firing at the super mutants. One entire magazine later, the super mutants are on the floor and Austin has a few more plasma puddles on his chest and shoulder. He gets back behind cover and reloads, as the super mutants start getting more organized and start fighting back with force. Alison appears and gets behind cover as well, reloading her pistol.

"How many are left?" Austin asks.

"Three," Alison says, pulling a stimpak out of her bag as well as a belt buckle. "Here." She puts the belt buckle in Austin's mouth and injects the stimpak in Austin's leg. Austin groans in pain, as she injects the chemical into his leg, and then spits the buckle out. They turn their heads to see seven more super mutants flooding down the stairs. "Bryson, what's holding you?!" Alison says, her voice anxious.

"These Spear have us pinned," Greene says, his voice tired. "They're fighting pretty hard." Austin swears as the ten super mutants are joined by seven more that flood from the other side of the foyer. Austin takes Alison's shoulders and looks her square in the eyes.

"Alison, we need to keep it going," Austin says. "C'mon, help me out here. Hand me a grenade, and throw them at the pillars." She nods, and gives Austin a frag grenade. They throw them at the remaining pillars, which collapse and the second floor follows. The stone crashes into the ground, causing Austin to briefly go deaf. Dust and smoke pile into the air, confusing the seventeen mutants quickly. Austin grabs Alison's arm, running for a door on the other side of the room. He is slightly unsettled by the inorganic arm, but he shoves it to the back of his mind and sprints. They go through the door and close it. They find themselves in a sort of dining room with a massive table in the center of the room and a staircase in the far side. Austin and Alison take cover at the door, and start firing at the super mutants.

"Bryson, we need you to start knocking! Now!" Austin says. They try to mow down all of the super mutants but they keep coming. They are forced to back up and head to the stair case, killing super mutants as they go. "Forget it, let's go!" Austin says, as he drags Alison and they narrowly avoid plasma and laser beams whizzing past their heads. They run through the castle with super mutants giving chase and try opening every magnetic looking door imaginable. Eventually, Austin finds a door that actually opens. "Through here!" Austin yells, letting Alison in and closing the door behind him. He gets on the terminal and seals the door with the password ' _uhfdifelgjslghaerfgl98arfharelfiaehrlifaehgfaelrfherifuhet7WR_.'

Austin steps back as the super mutants start beating on the door. Alison looks like she is about to cry. He looks around at the room he is in, which appears to be a study with books all over the place. 'Could this be Yuwan's office?' Austin thinks. He looks through a few sheets of paper and finds a map of the complex. Austin's heart starts beating in his ears as the super mutants are still trying their best to bust through the door. He finds the room labeled "Flamer Refuel" and notices that it is rather deep into the castle, near a living quarters. But Austin notices that in Yuwan's quarters there is an extra compartment in the room that does not appear to be visible. He hears that the super mutants are starting to fire their plasma weapons at the door, and the metal is starting to melt. No time to waste.

Austin sees that the compartment is hidden behind a bookcase. He pulls at the bookcase as hard as possible, looking at Alison. Alison goes over and helps pull the cases apart. The book cases are shoved out of the way and they open a wooden door that would lead to a closet to find…

"Oh my god," Austin says. "It's power armor."

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 **THIS WAS SO MUCH FUN TO WRITE. THIS IS ONE OF THE MOST AWESOME CHAPTERS I'VE WRITTEN. I'M SO PROUD OF MYSELF.**


	6. Chapter 6: Our New Battering Ram

**I know, I know…where have I been? Author's note at the bottom explaining my absence. Nevertheless, I do not own Fallout or its characters, ideas, ect.** **If you have a criticism or critique, please leave a review. Special thanks to The Enclave Assassin, Kenny ZeWolf, mercyspace, DeathDealerInc.; CrimTheSoleSurvivor and LobsterMonster420 for submitting OCs. I hope you guys enjoy the chapter! I'm not sure if I'll be able to hit the level of quality the last one was at, but we'll see.**

 **God bless, JPLegends**

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CHAPTER SIX: Our New Battering Ram

Austin couldn't help but stare at what was right in front of him. Here it was, a suit of T-60 Power Armor. Slightly rusted, with heavy adjustments. Austin drops his pistol on the floor with a loud clang and he runs over to examine the seven-foot tall armor. The metal is course and rough as he runs his hands over the coating. The left arm and right leg are more and less the same with some polish and-somehow-rust. The right arm was bits of shredded armor and bone mounted on it, but is mostly frame. The left leg's armor is replaced entirely with new, mostly rusted metal. The chestpiece is built specifically for super mutants: large, rough, and bloody. And the head was still there, but it was practically untouched. Yuwan must not use it in combat that much.

Austin could see the metal door that was separating angry super mutants from them start to melt from the plasma. Alison wasn't very impressed at the armor, and was more concerned about the fact that the door was about to melt. Austin took a few steps back, thinking about the situation they were in. This is it! This is how they win against the Spear! Quickly, he takes his combat rifle and his sniper rifle off, as well as his rucksack with all the ammunition. He slides behind the power armor to see the slot in which the power cell goes inside and….

It's empty.

Austin punches the armor in frustration, and instantly regrets his decision. He takes a breath and looks at the door. It's starting to vaporize. The steam emanating off the steel as well as the red glow is a bad omen, and the super mutant's stream of plasma bolts isn't letting up. He slides in between the wall and the armor again to look around the room. He sees the desk he checked earlier, as well as a cupboard, two more bookcases, and a navy military case. He runs over to the military case, which has the dulled out inscription ' _Her Majesty's Armed Forces_.' He opens it and finds a minigun. Perfect, but not what he needs. He runs over to the cupboard next. Inside is an assault rifle, a combat shotgun, and what looks like a long necked rifle with lever action. Under these is a shit load of ammo, or each weapon respectively. Next he runs to the desk. He passes Alison, who is watching him work intensively.

He checks each slot, and when he doesn't find anything other than paper he throws it onto the floor. He checks every single slot until the desk isn't a desk anymore, and it's flipped over thanks to Austin's frustration. He sees the door starting to form holes. It's red hot. He looks around the room one last time, and out of the corner of his eye, just lying on the bookshelves, is the power cells he was looking for. He sprints over, grabs five, and slides back behind the power armor. There isn't much time, so he has to make this quick. He takes a cell, its blue glow radiating brightly off of Austin's skin. He inserts it into the slot where the power armor goes, and uses his fist to hammer it in. He turns the wheel and the power armor opens up each piece of metal splitting or moving to reveal an open place where the body goes. Austin grabs a shoulder frame and puts his foot on a platform, and makes his body fit the form the armor is in. After three seconds, the armor closes around him and Austin looks out of the helmet he is in. He sees everything perfectly and he steps out of the compartment, the metal grinding against itself and the hydraulics pumping.

He looks down at Alison, who looks both terrified and baffled. Austin smiles, completely masked by the full-face covering helmet. He grew an extra foot in the armor and looks completely imposing. Austin picks up his rucksack as well as his pistol, combat rifle, and sniper rifle. He then walks over and pulls the assault rifle, shotgun, and lever-action rifle out of the cupboard, slinging them over his back. And then he reaches into the military case, and pulls out the minigun and holds it in his hands. He has a gun filled with five hundred bullets, and five more barrels to boot. He walks over to the door and aims his minigun haphazardly, at the door. He looks at Alison before he does anything.

"Stay behind me, and tell me if anyone comes behind us," Austin says, his voice sounding like it was coming out of a radio. "I'm going to kick these fuckers where it hurts."

"You actually think this'll work?!" Alison asks, her voice anxious. Austin smiles stupidly.

"Yep." He says simply. Alison groans and pulls out her own assault rifle, hiding behind Austin. Austin takes a deep breath and raises his foot into the air, bringing it crashing into the door. The door flies off its hinges, sending it crashing into the stone wall across from them and sending a few shocked super mutants back. Austin pulls his new minigun up and holds down the trigger. He catches a few looks of fear from the super mutants, and he hears deep screams in fear as the super mutants start to run away. The gun spins up, and in a loud rattle a hail of bullets start pelting the stone wall, passing through a few super mutants, which splatter blood over the wall before being eviscerated and falling over. The blood and gore soaks into the walls, floors and hits Austin's armor a little bit. Still holding down the trigger, he spins around to his right, where the rest of the mutants started running. Screaming in fear, the mutants are quickly silenced through the sound of the rattling minigun and the sound of the hellfire of bullets ripping through thick flesh, tearing them into bits and spraying blood all over the wall and floor. After twelve seconds, Austin takes his finger off the trigger and smells the gunpowder in the air. Littered on the floor are bits of super mutant carcass, and a lot of blood and gore. None of them got the opportunity to fire back.

"Holy shit." Alison whispers, looking at the slaughter. Austin looks around, thinking hard. They have the upper hand now, but it'll only be a matter of time before the war-hardened mutants start thickening their defenses. They have to move quickly. But first….

"This is valuable loot they have," Austin says, moving forward. "Pocket any weapons that have plasma or laser properties." Alison takes a few minutes to grab both sidearms and rifles that have energy properties and hands half of them to Austin. He can carry plenty more, but they can share the burden. The move forward down the hall and thinks of priorities.

"Greene, Bryson, come in," Austin says. "We've procured power armor and are headed to your location. How are you holding up?"

"This is Greene," Greene's voice reports over the radio. "Bryson took a hit in the rib. Super mutants are starting to flood us. You say you have power armor?"

"And a minigun. Austin's a violent person." Alison says, her voice still shaky.

"I try. We're also headed your way with some powerful weaponry." Austin says, stepping through the pool of blood, guts and brain.

"Hurry the fuck up, then," Greene says. "We won't be able to hold out for much longer. Greene out." Austin and Alison start jogging back through the path they came from until they find themselves back in the mess hall and back into the foyer. The trip back was surprisingly uneventful. Austin figured this was because of the fight in the courtyard, and that they were also busy prepping defenses in the middle of the castle. Concerning, but right now, they need to get to Bryson and Greene. They make it to the front doors and Austin covers against the door, listening on the other side. Gunfire is heard, and the sounds of super mutants yelling at the top of their lungs. Austin looks at Alison and nods. Alison takes a deep breath and aims her assault rifle. Austin kicks open the doors and holds down the trigger to the minigun again.

Another hail of bullets exits the minigun, ripping through a horde of super mutants who were taking cover behind a large wooden palette, four of which hiding behind it and three in front of it. In about fifteen seconds, the screams of the super mutants are silenced as they fall torn to pieces in a pile of gore and blood. Austin and Alison walk past the seven mutants dead on the dirt floor, and take cover behind the palette. Austin sees three wooden towers in the center of the courtyard in a triangle formation, with the bottom facing them. On top of the towers is scaffolding leading to the different towers, and wooden walls inside the courtyard, and the scaffolding from those walls lead to the actual walls. And on the dirt and mud ground is more slabs of wooden palette everywhere. Yuwan must have prepared for a fight.

"More humans!"

"Robot man! Power armor robot man!"

"Kill them all!" Austin knew that they couldn't stay too long. He gets out of cover to be greeted by lasers and plasma hitting his armor straight in the chest. He winces in pain, staggering back. He nearly fell, but kept his balance and looked to see where the barrages of energy are coming from. Two super mutants are on top of the towers facing them and one is on the scaffolding in between the two towers, and two more mutants on the ground-one wearing formidable armor with a melee weapon of some sort, and the other with a hunting rifle-coming straight for them. Austin takes aim with his minigun and holds down the trigger again. He sprays bullets at the super mutant on top of the right tower, killing him. He sweeps left, killing the next two mutants and sending them off the towers with the force of the bullets. As the middle mutant falls off the scaffolding, he tries to grab on and fails, causing the scaffolding to fall onto the ground. As he is still holding down the trigger, he finds that his minigun suddenly ran on empty. He sees Alison fire her assault rifle at the super mutant with the rifle in the neck three times. The bullets pass straight through the neck, causing the mutant to grab on to his neck, and gargle in his blood before falling over and…

Something hard hits Austin in the side of the head. Austin yelps in pain, the metal of his helmet ringing in his ears. He drops his minigun and falls to the floor, the metal clanging against the dirt. "Motherfucker!" Austin yells through his teeth, before he turns around to see what hit him. The super mutant in armor is standing over him with a sledgehammer, and he looks to be prepping for another swing. Austin tries to get up as fast as possible, but the mutant screams and swings the hammer again. This swing hits him in the side of his neck, and causes Austin to faceplant into the mud. Austin anticipates the next strike and when he pulls himself back up, he plants his arms on the side of his head. He feels something hit his forearm, and even better, he sees the sledgehammer snap on contact. Austin pushes himself up with his legs and shoves the broken hammer out of the way, prepping a hard slug to the super mutant's jaw. The punch lands, and the super mutant is pushed back from the force. He loses his balance, making him fall over. Austin takes the opportunity to walk over and drive his boot into the super mutant's neck. He hears a cracking sound, and with more pressure, the super mutant's eyes gloss over. Austin takes a deep breath, and picks up his minigun.

He reloads the gun, taking a drum out and putting a new one in, while walking over to where the reports seem to be coming from past the right castle. There, he sees Greene behind cover shoot a super mutant. The mutant falls over before more lasers and plasma force him to go back into cover. Austin runs up in between the two fighting groups and starts spraying at the super mutants. The mutants, startled, are forced to fall back and eventually fall out of sight. Austin counted at least five of them carved through by the gun that now lay on the ground in a pile of viscera. Austin turns at Greene's patch of cover, who is looking at him with a stupid grin on his face.

"Ho-ho-holy shit," Greene says. "A man after my own heart!"

"We have what we need to get to the refueling point," Austin says. "How's Bryson doing?"

"He's out cold, but he's stable," Greene says. "Ali, help me out." Alison runs over and helps Greene pick the large man up.

"I'll cover you," Austin says, rolling his shoulders. "Let's get in there and finish this."

"If we survive this, drinks are on me," Greene says. "You saved our asses." Austin moves forward, keeping in front of Greene and Alison as they carry the unconscious Bryson slowly across the courtyard back toward the entrance. Austin sees the super mutants appear and they start firing. Austin keeps firing the minigun, keeping the mutants suppressed, but also killing whoever tries to step out of their cover. Austin's armor is battered by plasma and lasers alike, and they keep hitting him with insane force. His armor is white-hot, and a lot of the chest piece in burned. But he keeps firing and keeping the others out of the way. They eventually make it back to the door, and as the others make their way inside, Austin keeps firing at the mutants. He kills about seven in the entire walk and uses two drums. He keeps firing, until Alison comes forward and hurls a grenade at the structure the mutants are hiding behind. It explodes in fire and shrapnel, and the burning wood and metal collapses on top of the mutants. A few got out, but with no cover, Austin makes quick work of them. With that, Austin closes the door and reloads his minigun. Two drums left.

He turns to see Greene and Alison standing over Bryson, injecting a stimpak and covering the bleeding wound. After, they back up and catch their breath. The fight isn't over yet, but they have a chance to breathe quickly. "Greene, here," Alison says, handing Greene a laser rifle. "Beam-splitted. A laser shotgun." She also hands him a plasma pistol. "And this is for when you run out of cells."

"Merci," Greene says, taking the weapons gladly. "So, what's next?"

"I saw the plan for the building where we got the power armor," Austin says. "The refueling point is in a common area deeper into the castle. And I'm willing to bet there are more mutants holed up in there. We get in, plant those charges, get out, and get back to Fudono. Simple enough."

"Yeah, except you guys apparently brought down the fucking roof." Greene says. He wasn't lying. It seemed necessary at the time to get away from the Spear while fighting in the foyer, but bringing the second story down now pretty much blocked all hopes of getting further into the castle. The only route that allows them to head where they want is the door to the dining room.

"We start moving through that door," Austin says. "Will we have enough time to carry Bryson with us?" Greene responds by taking a hunk of wood and banging it hard against Austin's armor. The loud clang apparently wakes Bryson up, and he is awfully startled.

"Where are we?! Where'd the mu-HOLY SHIT, A ROBOT!" Alison's face looks bright red, trying not to laugh. Greene wasn't so subtle, he laughed with the enthusiasm of an evil lawyer. Austin shook his head, as Bryson quickly came to his senses. He stands up quickly and holds onto his stomach, grimacing in pain. The wound looked singed and cauterized, with blisters near the wound. Easy laser wound.

"Bryson, you missed a lot," Greene says, smiling devilishly. "You see, Austin here was brutally wounded and was forced to undergo surgery that made him into a cyborg!"

"Uh-huh," Austin says, his voice ripe with sarcasm. "Look, we don't have time. We have a shot to get to the fuel. We have to take it. Quickly!" Greene didn't argue. They all got to their feet and headed to the door to the mess hall. Austin took the front with the minigun so that he could provide both insane firepower and protection for the others. Bryson and Greene, with their insanely powerful weapons, were behind Austin and ready to take any shots they could. Alison was shoring up the rear, prepared to lob grenades at the nearest opposition. When they enter the mess hall, Austin looks around and sees a door off to the right, almost parallel to the staircase. They head over and Austin kicks open the door. They head through and Austin begins opening fire at the numerous tall, muscular, green psychopaths. Austin rips through them almost immediately, hearing the sounds of bullets ripping apart flesh and mutants screaming in fear. Bryson was also firing with his gauss rifle at any mutant he could see before they either get ripped apart by Austin, or someone other than Austin kills him.

"That's it, you ugly, green, bastards," Greene yells, jovially. "Run for your lives! We've got us a new battering ram, motherfuckers!"

"Dude, chill." Austin says, taking chinks to the stomach and face, protected by the armor. They keep moving forward, pushing the mutants back by murder. Austin was astounded at the absolute number of them, but was surprised that they were so lightly armed. They followed and slaughtered the mutants down a hallway and reach a door, which leads into a library of sorts. A library of sorts because there weren't many books, and most of the structures were destroyed. They were replaced by lounging areas. Beds, spits, the works. As they broke into the library, they found themselves on top of a second level to the library, with staircases that were supposed to be there destroyed and replaced by sprawling ladders and wooden scaffolding. Lots of super mutants are at the bottom, with tons of laser rifles and plasma rifles. Plenty of heavy armor was between them and they were hiding behind tons of wooden structures. Austin suddenly was hit in the chest with tons of lasers and plasma, and he was starting to feel the metal melting. He grimaced in pain and ended up stepping back, getting hit by even more lasers and plasma. Alison, thinking quickly, runs forward and chucks a grenade into the center of the room. Mutants scream, Austin sees a few bodies move before there is a ball of fire and shrapnel cutting through the wood. The fire being put on Austin stopped briefly and the group took the opportunity to start moving, while Alison kept throwing grenades.

The explosions kept crashing through the air in the center of the room, and Austin ran around the left of the second floor, taking shallow breaths while running. When he got to the side of the center room's encampment, he dropped off the level and whirred up his minigun. The bullets starting tearing through the wood and whatever super mutants Austin saw, with tons of screams running throughout the building. Eventually, the screams went silent and Austin guessed that the Super Mutants were dead. That happens when they take explosions and miniguns to the face. Alison, Bryson, and Greene join him at the lower level of the floor.

"You good, Austin," Greene asks. "That sounded like a bad hit to the chest." Austin felt like his chest was burning.

"The chestplate is melting," Austin replies, looking down at the white hot, practically liquid metal. "It'll break in a bit."

"We could stop for a second," Bryson offers. "I could that thing together."

Bryson's offer is quickly rendered null void by a super mutant screaming "I'LL WEAR YOUR GUTS AROUND MY NECK AND EAT YOUR EYES!"

"Charming." Alison says.

"No time to wait," Austin says. "Let's keep moving."

* * *

 **The reason is double. This was a really hard chapter to write and it was originally supposed to be MUCH longer. I spent a while writing while keeping up with my school schedule. But I could only get so far in the story before...giving up and that was making me care less about the chapter. It's already really long. So, I'll just finish up this battle next chapter. Deal? Deal. I'll be more inspired and in a better mood to finish out the fight.**


	7. Chapter 7: They've Got Robots

**I'm pretty unsure about how this chapter'll go. Well, we'll see. I do not own Fallout or its characters, ideas, ect.** **If you have a criticism or critique, please leave a review. Special thanks to The Enclave Assassin, Kenny ZeWolf, mercyspace, DeathDealerInc.; CrimTheSoleSurvivor and LobsterMonster420 for submitting OCs. I hope you guys enjoy the chapter!**

 **God bless, JPLegends**

* * *

CHAPTER SEVEN: They've Got Robots

Austin, Greene, Alison, and Bryson continued down a staircase past the common area they just cleared out. Considering the fact that everything was going pretty good at the moment, things could have been going better. Austin has about two barrels left for his minigun, one of which already inside the massive gun and probably more than half empty. Bryson is injured, which is a pretty good deal considering the fact that he and Greene nearly died in a battle a little bit ago. And Austin and Alison were practically getting their asses handed to them in the fight. All it took was pure luck and Austin found power armor, which is not doing so good either. The armor has taken so much damage already, and the chestplate has taken the brunt of the punishment. It's practically liquid steel with how heated it was and it's been ripped to shreds. While walking down the cobblestone staircase, Austin stripped the chestplate and stored it on his back. It's broken, but it may be of use later. And he still has the chassis for armor. It's weaker, but still stupid strong.

The staircase down was narrow, forcing Austin's allies to funnel behind him. Its cobblestone stairs and walls were only lit by torches on the walls. The lights on the ceiling did not seem to be working. They make their way out of the staircase (much to Bryson's relief), and fine themselves in a wine cellar. It is still lit with torches and the walls are lined with large barrels as far as the eyes will go. Austin bangs at the barrel. It's empty.

"Shame," Greene says. "I'd love to taste some old world wine."

"Probably irradiated as hell." Austin retorts. Alison and Greene snort.

"Think that bothers him?" Alison asks. Austin forgot for a second that Greene was a ghoul…somehow.

"Touché." Austin says. They head down the hall lined with barrels, and right in the middle is another hall cutting down the center. Cutting off from this line of tunneling are more lines on either side, Austin inferred for storing even more wine. But dead in the center was a centrum, circular and made with a finer stone. In the middle of the large centrum as a massive, orange tank. It reached the top of the ten foot ceiling, and managed to take up a large eight foot by ten foot space. This must be the tank for refueling the flamers.

'Flamers…'

"Um, have you guys seen any super mutants with flamers?" Austin asks. Greene, Alison, and Bryson look pretty taken aback by the question.

"Yeah, I…wait…no, I…huh," Greene says. "Can't say I ever have…" He looks perplexed, which is interesting on a ghoul's face. They're eyes are sunk in, their noses are completely gone and are replaced by holes, they are bald, green skinned and wrinkled. So, Greene looked like a mummy trying to be aristocratic. Kind of reminded him of Mayor Hancock back in Goodneighbor…

"There are reports of country sides being torched, completely decimated via fire," Bryson says. "We know they have flamers. But I don't think there have ever been any reported battles where the Spear have actually had flamers in conflict."

"So, what's the tank for?" Austin asks.

"I don't want to stick around to find out," Alison says, walking past Austin. "Let's get this operation done and get out." Nobody argued. But something still nagged in the back of Austin's head. He feels like if entire country sides have been scorched to inhabitable wastelands, then they should know what's causing it. Alison set up a pentagonal explosive on the tank, punching in a few buttons and stepping back.

"It's set up," Alison confirms. "It can be remotely detonated. Let's bounce."

"You aren't going anywhere."

Everyone spun in the direction of the gruff, gravelly voice. Austin prepared his minigun, pointing it in the direction of the intruder. And so did everyone else. What they found was bizarre. In front of them- at the end of one of the halls headed off from the side of the centrum- was two Assaultrons and an Eyebot. The hairs on the back of Austin's neck stood up. This is what we back in America call bad news. These are both robots originally commissioned by RobCo back in the Old United States, and was sent out to nations all over the world. Eyebots are domestic robots, not that threatening. They were originally purposed for radio broadcasts. Assaultrons meanwhile are pure military robots, meant to serve on the battlefield. They could certainly do that, as they have a staggering melee attack and an eye laser attack. And those lasers are never _ever_ supposed to be underestimated.

Assaultrons have a female looking chassis with militant looking frames. The heads were separated into two, with one robotic eye that glows red. Their hands are three fingered, long prongs. Used to stab and impale when they aren't blowing things up with their lasers. The models Austin had ever seen were green and had a star on the left side of the chest. These were painted with faded blue paint, with a dull crown on the left chest. The Eyebot was spherical, with a grille covering its speaker. It is hovering in the air with small rockets in the back. This Eyebot is bright green instead of the usual grey. There was also something odd about all of the robots. Odd as in, they looked like they had been slapped back together. Rebuilt. Some of the parts were entirely new, like shielding on the Assaultrons's chests.

The Eyebot hovered forward as the Assaultrons stood there, staring with absolutely no motion. It floated a few inches away from Austin's face, hovering silently. Austin kept his weapon on the Assaultron on the left. The singular red eye looked at him and twitched up and down, left and right. It was checking him out.

'Nothing can never be simple.'

"I have spent four hundred ninety-three days on my campaign to render the rats of Great Britain extinct and yet here you are," the voice continues. "Four insects, slaughtering my slaves inside one of my own bases. And you, standing there in my armor. This has never happened again. Who may you be?" Austin felt a trickle of sweat spill down his head.

"I'm Austin," Austin says, trying to sound tough and failing. "I'm a drifter. I'm new in town. I'm fucking up your shit and stealing your crap. And you are?" The voice on the other side grunts.

"I am Yu Wan Bazai," The voice says. "You simpletons know me as "Yuwen"."

"If you're so tough, then why did you send a messenger bot with bodyguards?" Greene says. He was much better at sounding intimidating than Austin. It makes sense because Greene's voice is naturally raspy and growly. Then again, Austin is in a suit of power armor and he still manages to sound like a bitch.

"I'm well aware that I cannot beat four soldiers, one with a gauss cannon and another in power armor, knave," Yuwen says. "And since you have managed to kill an absurd amount of my slaves, I have sent some more competent combatants to dispatch you."

"Robots?" Alison asks, her voice quavering. Everyone seems to have the same idea about the Assaultrons as Austin.

"Precisely." Yuwen says. The Eyebot floats up farther into the air, as the Assaultrons take fighting positions, their hands spinning in anticipation.

"Engaging." They say in their robotic, feminine voice in perfect unison. They both charge toward Austin, ready to strike at his armor and rip him to shreds. Austin, being a man of action, takes his minigun and promptly swings it at the nearest Assaultron. The one that sees it coming ducks out of the way, and the other one circles around the group. Austin hears gunfire, aware that Greene and Alison have taken the liberty of taking pot shots at the circling robot. The Assaultron that ducked out of the way charges into Austin, easily pushing him backwards. Austin staggers, not expecting the strength of the Assaultron to be that great. The Assaultron, seeing another opening, lunges forward and strikes at Austin with its spikes for hands. Austin blocks it with his forearm, and a plate in the armor gets crunched. Austin is yet again pushed back by the strength.

"These machines have no fear of death, no self-preservation protocol, and no other instinct other than to fight," Yuwen narrates, his Eyebot hovering above the action. "And best of all, they are completely expendable." Austin suddenly realizes the reason Yuwen sent Assaultrons instead of any other robot. They charge their eye lasers the entire time while they fight, and contact with the tank will make the entire castle go sky high.

"Kill them fast!" Austin shouts. He gets on his feet and readies himself for the next attack. The Assaultron charges forward, striking out with its left hand, rotating like a drill. Austin weaves out of the way and charges into the Assaultron, throwing all of his weight against it. Austin feels the awkward crash of metal against metal, and hears the sound of a metal crunching as it compresses. The Assaultron staggers back, its head twitching as if it is unsure of what just happened. Then, a bolt of blue energy spikes it on its chest, sparking and crashing hard into the robot. Bryson steps by with his gauss rifle, ready to unload another shot into the already confused Assaultron. Austin notices that this robot's eye is glowing vibrantly red. You can barely see the eye with how much light it's producing. Bryson then unloads six more gauss shots into the Assaultron, which staggers back with every hit and sparks like nobody's business. Bryson begins to reload, and Austin takes the opportunity to kick at the wounded and confused robot.

Behind him, Greene and Alison were trying their best to land a solid shot on their Assaultron. Unfortunately, the bot keeps ducking and weaving to avoid the fire and doing astonishingly well. At one point, it turns while moving and punches at Alison, effectively nailing her in the stomach. Alison screams in pain, as blood spurts on the floor and robot. The Assaultron continues charging the weapon.

"Accept your death," Yuwen says. "Rest easy knowing that you will be dispatched with minimal effort. That your attack was just a ping on the radar at the moment. And after you have been expunged, I will take the island for my own. Take comfort in knowing nothing you can do will stop me." Austin couldn't help but think that this was the most helpful advice on Earth.

Austin's foot drives into the Assaultron, which loses its balance and falls over. Before it can get up, Austin aims his minigun at the bot, and lets loose a volley of bullets into the robot. First it only starts to chink the armor, but within seconds, it proceeds to rip and tear into the robotic pieces until robot carcass is left. The Assaultron lets loose a scream of static before it's eye goes dark and it becomes motionless. An average person would have assumed that was the end of the fight, but Austin knew better. Assaultrons explode after they die, and if the tank or Alison's explosive gets caught in the blast, it's curtains for the group. Austin- being a thinker- grabs the dead Assaultron by the leg and hurls it as far down the hall way as it will go. It goes an easy twenty feet before exploding into orange flames. The deafening blast shakes the room, and Greene and Alison are so startled they fall over. Austin gets a really loud and obnoxious ringing in his ears.

"The insects have disposed of an Assaultron," Yuwen says. "Impressive." He failed to sound impressed.

At this point, the remaining Assaultron had red energy flowing to its eye through the divided four plates on the robot's face, meaning it is dangerously close to firing. Bryson, realizing what is about to happen, charges the Assaultron and tackles it. There is a clang of metal, and Bryson actually manages to make the Assaultron stagger. Bryson pushes hard, managing to make it stagger more. Austin takes the opportunity to also charge into it, and seeing this, Bryson backs away from the confused Assaultron. And the robot- being around two hundred twenty pounds and Austin's power armor being around five hundred forty- topples over. The feminine bot lands on its stomach and looks up at the fuel tank, preparing to fire. Austin takes his foot and rams the Assaultron's head into the ground. The head laser goes off with a loud crack with the robot's head two inches from the ground, and it ricochets, conducting onto the robot's head and making it explode in red energy. Austin takes the body of the Assaultron and chucks it down another hallway, and it explodes dramatically.

"I would be shocked by your display," Yuwen says. "Unfortunately, your fate is sealed."

"What do you mean," Greene says, sounding annoyed. "We just killed your bots."

"A lesson in Darwinism is in order," Yuwen says. "The stronger creature always survives." Austin feels the ground shake and hears the sound of rotating gears and loud, locomotive engines. He turns toward the source of the noise to find…

"Shi-TAKE COVER!"

A large- larger than normal- Sentry Bot was headed down the wine cellars from the opposite way they came in. The thing is truly massive, since Sentry Bots typically stand at about nine feet tall and this one is about twelve. It's spider-like, three legs rolled toward them quickly and as Austin and the gang took cover behind the fuel tank, Austin got a good look at the bot. It looked haphazardly thrown together, reassembled by the Spear with harsh edges and brutal weapons. Instead of twin chainguns on its hands, it had two weapons. On its left hand, it held a laser gatling gun that was already spinning fast. On its left, it had a large flamer with a massive, red tank. In a garbled, static filled voice, it roars:

"ALERT: HOSTILES DETECTED. NUMBER: FIVE. LETHAL FORCE AUTHORIZED FOR ALL NEARBY UNITS. ALERT: EXPLOSIVES DETECTED. CAUTION IS ADVISED."

Of course, while it said this, it fired its gatling gun at Austin's group's general direction. And the group was hiding behind the flamer tank. Multiple laser bolts connected with the tank, but it only resulted in a few light burns on the tank. It flanked around the side, ready to mow them down. But it stopped a little bit away and kept firing at the tank, keeping the group suppressed.

"Didn't it just say not to fire at the tank?!" Greene screamed over the sound of machinery and lasers firing.

"Lasers can only melt steel in large moderation," Alison says, pointing to Austin's exposed chassis. "Flamer fuel simply can't melt it."

"Look upon the crown jewel of my army," Yuwen's voice says. "Look upon the Purifier, enacting the Scorched Earth policy of old war. It will be the end of your pathetic campai…"

Yuwen's speech is interrupted by Alison firing her assault rifle at the Eyebot, making it explode. Austin- although thankful that the Spear's leader was finally shut up- was busy studying the Purifier. It didn't move all that much, although it clearly wanted the four of them dead. But what was even more perplexing was the Purifier's head. It was still a head shape with a grille, but instead of a red light, the bot had a yellow lens behind the grille. This bizarre design choice by the Spear was doubled by the fact that the Purifier disobeyed Sentry Bot protocall- and its own speech- by staying in one spot and suppressing the group. Usually Sentry Bots try to murder their opponents as fast as possible with their stupid level of maneuverability. But it just stood there, firing at the group behind cover.

And then it moved.

Austin panicked immediately and said, "Move! Go!" Bryson, Greene, and Alison immediately ran away from the tank as Austin started firing his minigun at the robot. The Purifier did something weird- it lifted its laser gatling gun to its head, covering the grille. And the flamer fired up in a brilliant splash of orange and red. Austin, when faced with being set on fire, does the only natural thing. Scream. He keeps firing his minigun while stumbling back, the flamer still firing at him. Austin, realizing the Purifier is following him, aims his minigun at the Purifier's leg. The leg takes a beating, and eventually a plate is forced off with an expulsion of steam. Sparks fly everywhere, and the Purifier staggers. It stops try to light Austin on fire- already being successful- and tries to move. The multi-faceted wheel on the end of the leg happens to be jammed, and the Purifier has trouble moving. Austin takes the opportunity to keep backing up, still firing rounds into the robot's body and legs. After five seconds of backing up and firing, the minigun starts clicking.

Austin swears, and runs to regroup with the rest of the group, who are huddled behind the start of a hallway leading into more wine storage containers. He reloads his minigun. This is his last drum. He looks back at the Purifier, which is moving spastically, trying to get its injured leg behind him. Then, it stopped moving and its laser gatling gun protruded a long, steel wire looking object. It proceeded to start welding its leg.

"We have to get past it," Bryson says. "We'll never beat it in this place."

"That tunnel behind it looks like a direct way out of the castle," Alison says. "It must be a deployment tunnel for the Purifier."

"Aim for the head," Austin says. "There's something different about it. It protected the lens inside the grille when I fired at it. You did see that right?"

"What could be inside it?" Bryson asks.

"Who cares," Greene, ever the idealist, says. "Shoot it!"

Everyone emerges from cover, firing at the Purifier's head. The Purifier, in the middle of repairing its leg, staggers backwards. It attempts to fire its gatling gun in the direction of where the danger is coming from, but only succeeds at hitting the walls and shattering wine barrels. In about seven seconds, a burst of fire emerges from the grille and the smoke starts protruding from the head.

"BE ADVISED: COMMUNICATION WITH HEADQUARTERS HAS BEEN INTERUPTED," The Purifier roars. "CAUTION: IMMEDIATE LINE OF SIGHT HAS BEEN COMPREMISED. SWITCHING TO TARGET CARD."

'Roman. It must be speaking roman.' Austin thinks.

They keep firing at the Purifier, as it struggles to keep moving. Surprisingly, it actually manages to straighten itself out. It begins firing at the group more precisely than before, which forces them to take cover back behind the fuel tank. The Purifier moves around them again to flank, but Austin makes the group move around the tank quickly. They keep firing at the Sentry, Austin closer than the rest so he can absorb the blunt of the flamer attacks. Austin hated every second of being on fire. It heated up his armor, and he ended up getting even worse burns on his skin. But he toughed it out. All he had to do was keep firing. The group was already in between the direct exit out of the castle and the Purifier, and all it took was the Purifier to enter it's cool down period.

After two minutes and the armor on Austin's left arm and right leg breaking, the Purifier started backing away. And then, it lowered its upper body and exposed its fusion cores, venting hot steam out of its back with a sinister _hisssssss_. Austin saw the opportunity and boldly yelled, "RUN AWAY!" The four started bolting down the dirt carved tunnel that the Purifier came from. He knew the cool down period was enough time to give them a head start down the tunnel, but it wasn't enough to make them escape the castle completely. They would have to run as fast as possible.

Austin knew the tunnel was long, but he didn't expect it to be as long as it really is. There was a solid three minutes of sprinting, and they didn't look like they were anywhere close to the exit. Austin was starting to run out of breath, sweat running down his brow and his legs wobbling inside the armor. Alison and Greene were looking relatively okay, which made since. They've been fighting a war for…however long Yuwen said they were fighting, and were conditioned to fight like soldiers. Bryson, although being a solider of caliber more than Greene and Alison, had a laser wound. He was not looking in too good of shape, and he was clutching onto his rib. While running, Bryson- out of nowhere- toppled onto the ground, unconscious.

"Bryson!" Austin yelled. He went to pick him up, and effectively felt the ground start shaking. Austin swore. If they spend any more time trying to carry an unconscious body, then the Sentry will catch up and kill them. But if they keep running, Bryson will be killed by the Purifier and will be eviscerated by the fire in the explosion. There is no time, considering Austin can already feel the Purifier on its way. And considering the fact that there was no cover in this narrow hallway, staying around would certainly kill them.

"Shit," Greene says. "We have to go."

"Nice try," Austin says, picking up Bryson. "I'm not leaving Bryson behind." Bryson was shockingly heavy. It probably had to do with the fact that the guy is already two hundred and seventy pounds of man muscle with multiple weapons and heavy tools strapped on top.

"We waste time, we die," Greene says. "It kills me to have to leave Bryson behind, but we don't have a choice."

"We always have a choice." Austin says. He could barely keep Bryson on his shoulders.

"I'm with Austin." Alison says. Her face flushed faintly, but her face remained stoic and determined.

"I'm not going to leave one of our own behind," Austin says. "We came this far, we can keep going. And I'll be damned if I'm going to let a thrown together Sentry Bot built by mutants who's first instinct is to kill." Austin could see Greene's face falter. Alison's face lit up.

'Alison loved that.'

"Damn it!" Greene said twice. Once because he could see the Purifier a little down the hall. The second time because the Purifier started firing at the team. Alison, thinking fast, threw a device at the Purifier. Austin dropped to his knee, taking laser bolts to the chest and spraying bullets from the minigun in the Purifier's general direction. Greene fired his laser shotgun in a similar manner. When the Purifier rolled over Alison's device, the hall exploded in a hail of shrapnel and fire. The force brought the ceiling down on top of the Purifier, but even then, Austin knew that wouldn't stop the beast for long. They started running away, with an extra head start. Greene and Alison occasionally looked over their shoulders to see if the machine was following them. They never saw anything, but Austin could feel something on their heels.

Two minutes later, they exited a tunnel. There were treads where the Purifier had entered and exited the tunnel over and over, and they found themselves at the bottom of a muddy hill. They ran up the hill and looked back behind them. The hills completely covered the tunnel they just came out of, and the castle was several dozen yards away. Alison, being smart, pulled out a detonator and pressed the button on it. It made a satisfying clicking sound, then a beep, and then the castle went up in flames in a massive roar. The ceiling was blown off, towers were toppled over, and some pieces of wall went flying in every direction. In mere seconds, the castle was little except ruins, smoke, and blazing fire that glowed bright red- sometimes blue. The red, warm glow irradiated the team's faces, but Austin ruined the brief moment of the team basking in their impossible victory:

"It's not over," Austin said. "We have to hide."

* * *

 **Wow. That was… a bit long. But hey, it was worth it!**


	8. Chapter 8: Coups, Politics, and Spies

**Heavens, it has been a while. But hey…um…Grand Nationals was fun. Yeah, I'll explain what took so long in the author's note below. Anyways, I do not own Fallout or its characters, ideas, ect. If you have a criticism or critique, please leave a review. Special thanks to The Enclave Assassin, Kenny ZeWolf, mercyspace, DeathDealerInc.; CrimTheSoleSurvivor and LobsterMonster420 for submitting OCs. I hope you guys enjoy the chapter!**

 **God bless, JPLegends**

* * *

CHAPTER EIGHT: Coups, Politics and Spies (Oh My!)

"What are you talking about," Alison says, annoyed. "The castle's blown up, the Spear are dead. We essentially cleared out a theatre of war. Why do we need to hide?"

"Because my motion detector is picking up something big and angry in there." Austin points down the tunnel where they had just come from, laid bare by smoke and ash. And the fact was true. There was a big, red blip a few yards down the tunnel headed in their direction. Alison swore.

"I thought the explosion killed that thing," Greene snarled, clearly angry. "Where in the hell are we supposed to go?!" Austin looked around thinking desperately.

' _Uh….uh….uh….the toilet! What toilet?! Shit, there isn't a toilet!_ '

Austin saw a structure a few out in the distance, only exposed by the glow of the massive bonfire behind them. Austin, letting action do the talking, simply started sprinting toward the structure. Greene and Alison, after a second of bewilderment, quickly followed suit. Austin was weighed down by Bryson's body on his back, unconscious. The dude is massive, and carries a gauss rifle and multiple explosives on him at all times. The dude is three hundred pounds of _heavy_. Austin ran toward the structure, which looked to be the run down remains of a checkpoint. And stating the checkpoint is run down does it a major injustice. The checkpoint has its small, concrete structure intact, but the glass window is shattered and the bar that rises and lowers is completely gone. Not to mention the concrete has heavy burn marks on it, probably left there by the Purifier.

Austin went inside the small checkpoint structure and crouched against the wall, putting Bryson on the floor. He relaxed. The power armor moves pretty fluidly, but as long as he doesn't move within the armor, he should be safe of the Purifier's motion sensors, which it will effectively be running off of due to its blindness. Greene took cover next to Austin on the adjacent wall, laser shotgun at the ready. Alison slipped in between them, kneeling in front of the window. They stayed there, not moving a muscle for a little bit of time.

Eventually, the group heard heavy treads cutting through the ground nearby. It was loud and then it stopped, followed by the roar of the Purifier saying, "NO THREAT DETECTED. KEEP ALERT. COMMENCING SWEEP OF AREA. LETHAL FORCE IS AUTHORIZED." Austin's heart beat in his ears as he listened to the whirring of the machine for a long amount of time. The red lights from the Purifier's grille shone through the broken window, glowing against the group's face. Nobody moved. Greene had his teeth clenched and his eyes closed. He looked like he was praying inside his head. Alison was pale, and looked like she was in the process of seeing a ghost. The machine stayed outside of their vision, making whirring sounds accentuated through Austin's pounding heart and rapid breath stinking up his helmet.

After about twelve seconds, which felt like an eternity to Austin, the Purifier said "THREAT DETECTED. CODE RED. CODE RED." Austin closed his eyes. He had accepted death in the four seconds it had taken to have the Purifier say that sentence. The guns on the Purifier whirred up, and started making their firing sounds. But no contact was made with the checkpoint or Austin's group. Austin opened his eyes, wondering why he wasn't dead yet. It occurred to him that the Purifier is firing at something else, and his heartbeat started pound in his ears again.

Alison had tears rolling down her cheeks. Greene looked like he had reached enlightenment.

The team waited until the sound of whirring guns and treads had disappeared, signaling their safety. Austin let out a large exhalation, relieved that hiding actually worked. He peeked through the window, checking to see if they were truly alone. The coast was clear, and a bit away, he could see where the Purifier had fired its laser miniguns. Tall grass was burning with ferocity, creating a bit of smoke. Austin and the others walked over to see what exactly the machine had fired at, and Austin found that there wasn't much of a body left. But it looked like a deer, with a thick hide and a large detached antler nearby. It looked shaped and sharpened enough to kill anything, and could probably bring down a tree based off of the deer's muscles. Greene whistled.

"That thing killed a Stabstag. Damn." Greene said, impressed.

"I think it's safe to say that we're done here," Austin says. "Let's head back to Destle's Steppe." Austin's stomach rumbled. "But first….those Stimpaks caught up to me."

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

"An army of Super Mutants, explosives, advanced weaponry, robots- one of which you claim is responsible for a scorched earth protocol- and one of our own injured, and yet you walk away with an arsenal of weapons, power armor, and the burning remains of a castle to your back." Fudono's face was completely straight, but his eyes were giving away that he was trying to wrap his head around how the team actually managed to win this fight.

When the team got back to Destle's Steppe, Greene had turned Bryson over to Fudono, who immediately made him rest despite Bryson's insistency to study the weapons they had gathered. Austin had turned over the power armor to Jericho in limping and unstable condition, but Jericho said as long as it was in one piece, he could fix it and improve it. Currently, Bryson has heavy bandages on his torso, but disobeyed orders to pick apart the weapons they gathered from the checkpoint. He was also treating his injuries, as well as the injuries of the group. Stimpaks could only get the recovery progress so far and there was the unpleasant side effect the equivalent of fifty laxatives. Bryson's methods were welcomed, and Austin actually felt much better than when he treated his injury after punching that synth with the glass.

Jericho, meanwhile, was on cloud nine. He was having a ball taking apart and putting back together the power armor that Austin snatched. While everyone was getting set, Jericho was hammering and welding away at the armor while singing "Baby Baby Fallin' In Love." In no time, the armor will look brand, spanking new. Alison and Greene, meanwhile, were standing next to Austin while he was giving his brief to Fudono. All this took place in the basement of the inn that everyone had first met Austin.

"We had a big victory," Austin said. "But being honest, it was a miracle we made it out alive."

"Indeed," Said Fudono, standing up and staring Austin in the eyes. "I do not believe in the business of miracles. Although, I would agree it was very unlikely you made have made it out alive. You should be dead, but you made it out. You are a very….capable soldier."

"I'm not your soldier," Austin said. "I'll do what you want me to, but I refuse to throw my life away because you need a job done. And I'm not going to risk my peers' lives to make ends meet."

"It has gotten us this far," Fudono says. "And you are not the one who gets to make that call."

"I don't care," Austin says. "I'm not throwing lives away for your cause. I'm going to do what works, and I'm going to do my job. But it's pretty clear you didn't expect us to survive, and intended for us to die. That's unacceptable. If I'm going to help you, you need to put a little more faith in what we're doing on the field. And you need to let me do what needs to be done." Austin and Fudono held eye contact for a little bit, not moving and unwavering. Austin may have felt a bit overconfident in saying this to Fudono, but in reality, he needs to make his point clear that his life isn't one to throw away. And Fudono can't do much considering that the Paladins have been getting their asses handed to them, and this is the most successful mission they've had in a while. Instead, Fudono just sighs.

"What's with that smug look on your face, Henry?" Fudono barks. Austin sees Greene smirking like he had just placed an air horn under Fudono's chair. Alison had her arms crossed, and she looked pretty confident.

"Nothing, sir," Greene says. "But I think I would prefer traveling with Austin a bit more, if it's all the same to you."

"Are you serious," Fudono asks, his face looking slack. "Fine. Alison, you've got your work cut out for you."

"Yes, sir." Alison says.

"Okay, then," Fudono says. "We can finally start thinking of ways to push back against Yuwen. This was a huge victory, but we have a lot more to do if we're going to keep them away from Metroport. Austin, I'm sure you will continue to do what you want to do. If ever we need you again, we will call you with this radio." Fudono pulls a radio out of his pocket and hands it to Austin. It's a walkie-talkie, with worn steel and a speaker that looks like it has seen better days. "That is all. Dismissed."

Fudono sits down back at his desk and continues looking over maps and battle plans. Austin, Greene, and Alison exit Fudono's office and look around the basement. The office is in the back of the room, and the basement is a lot more open. To the left of them is the workshop, where Jericho has been working on power armor and all kinds of gadgets. To their right, an armory where Bryson has been tinkering at the guns. And in a corner near the armory, there is a medical station also headed by Bryson. At the other corner, was a cabinet filled with alcohol.

"So," Austin says. "I want to understand why Metroport won't help us. Why won't they give the fire support needed to keep these guys away?"

"Let's discuss this upstairs, in the bar," Greene says. "I could go for a buzz, and the people down here wouldn't forgive us if we discussed this down here. Alison, you coming with us?" Alison shrugs.

"I could go for a drink." Alison says. The three head upstairs into the bar of the inn that they were staying at. The inn- which Austin noticed was favorably named "The Bloatfly"- seemed pretty homey the more Austin went to hole up. The three grabbed a table in the bar and Alison got up to go get them drinks.

"This place is named after a Paladin hero, right," Austin asked, waiting for Alison to come back. "Destle. J name Destle. Somewhere along that line." Austin noticed a figure in a trench coat and a fedora kneeling against the wall, looking straight at them. He stood out against the rest of the crowd, and looked very suspicious. Austin didn't look his way, but kept him out of his peripheral vision.

"Yeah, Jackson Destle. He was a hero a few years back," Greene says. "Back when the war started up, Destle was a hell of a soldier. He could effectively hold back the Spear for week long battle. When the Thousand Man Coup occurred, the Paladins lost their popularity and many defected to escape death. Destle was leading a single platoon and was losing battle after battle with the Spear, desperately trying to keep them away from Metroport. Eventually, he set up a blockade here and rallied the men behind him to hold the line and not let a single Super Mutant pass. The battle lasted for two weeks, and Destle did not let a single Mutant through. In the end, the battle caught up with him. He died stabbing at a Mutant platoon leader's throat with a stick."

"Wow." Austin said, listening with interest.

"Yuwen ordered a retreat," Greene continued. "And the people who survived founded Destle's Steppe in protest to the Spear. Today, we use this village to work at keeping the Spear away. And we've doing a god awful job up until now."

"How big is the Paladin force?" Austin asked.

"Seventy men strong." Greene said with a straight face. Austin blinked in surprise.

"You're shitting me."

"I shit you not, my friend. We have seventy men in the Paladin military, and that includes our little suicide team. Don't get me wrong, we're tough as steel. You have to be to last this long in the war," Greene taps at the table in frustration. "But the Spear have bigger numbers. All we can do is just….wait for a monumental fuck up that causes us to lose."

"That's insane," Austin says. "The Thousand Man Coup, is that the reason why nobody'll help the Paladins?" Alison comes back with three bottles of beer and sits down, distributing them between the group.

"Ali, perfect timing," Greene says jovially. "We were just about to discuss the Thousand Man Coup!" Alison's face scrunches up like she ate an entire lemon.

"Oh, joy." She says, opening her beer and taking a big gulp.

"That's a good sign," Austin says. "Spit it, what's the deal with the Thousand Man Coup?"

"Right so, before the war started, the Paladins were responsible for keeping the law of the land," Greene says, opening his beer. "We were the biggest domestic force in Europa…ever, right? So, Yuwen shows up and the war starts. The Paladins start getting their asses handed to them. We needed recruits and members of the Metroport Militia, which was the official police force back them. Mayor Compton wouldn't provide the money or man power. Wanna know why?"

"Why?" Austin asks.

"Because he was too busy looking after himself." Alison says, frowning. Greene's face scrunches up, which looks interesting on a ghoul.

"Not exactly," Greene says. "Some thieves had broken into the government run bank and stole fifty thousand caps at the time. That single act crippled the economy and the trading industry, and Compton was busy with keeping what little money he had left safe. In fact, that's the entire reason the SMP was formed. Compton needed a police force that could catch criminals without being spotted, and eventually, they overtook the Militia as the primary police and military force of Metroport."

"He could've at least given us some man power." Alison growls.

"You see how she doesn't like that," Greene says, pointing at Alison. "Well, with the Paladins back then, it was even more unpopular. Unpopular as in _violent_ unpopular. One high ranking Paladin by the name of Elijah Nietzsche- who, by the by, was appropriately nicknamed 'Ubermensch'," Austin groaned at the obvious connection between the old world German philosopher and his work. "Anyways, Nietzsche was pretty angry that our friend Destle died in battle to defend Metroport and the Paladins had nothing to show for it. So, he brought a radical group of Paladins together, and rallied them to plan an attack against Metroport. His plan was to assassinate Mayor Compton."

"That's not a coup," Austin says, confused at the word choice for the name of the event. "The Thousand Man Coup isn't a coup. That's an invasion."

"Yes, well," Alison says, crossing her arms. "A coup sounds better. It's a bit more handy to slander the Paladin name."

"His excuse for calling it a coup was that we were under Metroport's jurisdiction," Greene said. "But we weren't we were a wild card group that happened to lean on Metroport for support."

"Which made it all the easier for Compton to rally the people against the Paladins." Alison said. She took a swig of her beer.

"That's venomous." Austin says, not seeing any good side to this situation.

"It was a shit situation," Greene shrugs. "There was about a thousand Paladins who invaded Metroport to try and kill Compton. Compton survived all thanks to the prototype SMP, and every Paladin there was killed. Like Ali says, Compton used this success against the Paladins to not only slander us, but to peddle the sheer, unstoppable power of the SMP. And to make matters worse, Compton put a kill order on the Paladins. Every. Single. One. It was so bad, we actually had to go into hiding and change our names."

"What?" Austin asks, surprised.

"We weren't originally called the Paladins," Alison whispers. "We were actually the Sentinels. We changed our names to the Paladins and pretended we were a rising group that supported the 'we protect everyone indiscriminately' of the original Sentinels, but not the methods. Fudono rose to power and has been leading the fight ever sense. That's why we're so small. Compton has a murder boner for the Sentinels. He wants them wiped off of the face of Europa."

"Christ." Austin realizes that the figure who has been kneeling against the wall touched one ear and pulled something out of the other. Suspicious, considering the coat he was wearing could potentially hide a lot. "Hey, don't look now, but there's a suspicious looking guy leaning against the wall. He's been looking at us for a while now."

"What's he wearing?" Greene asks, his voice nervous. Austin is surprised that Greene and Alison don't look at the suspicious man.

"Trench coat and fedora," Austin says. "I can't see his features, but he was fiddling with something in his ears."

"Shit, SMP earpieces," Greene says. "Has he been there our entire conversation?" Austin nods. Greene proceeds to rub his forehead like he has a headache. Austin notices the man in the coat stop leaning against the wall, and start heading for the exit.

"He's on the move." Austin says. Alison swears.

"Austin, follow him," Greene says, starting to stand up. "I'll take the left side exit. Alison, you take the left. Go! Go!" Everyone bolts. Austin jogs through the crowd and outside the exit the man in the coat went through. He cuts back into the center of a street with a few people moving about, with houses made of half-rusted steel standing at two stories. It's still pitch black outside, but bits of purple were starting to cut through.

Austin looked around, trying to catch the man in the coat in the crowd. If he gets away, the Paladins will be at risk of god-knows-what being revealed. Austin looks to his right and sees the man in the coat in between two men. The man glances back.

He and Austin make eye contact. Austin swears.

The man starts bolting through the crowd, and Austin starts chasing after him. Austin reaches for the pistol on his belt only to realize he did not have his pistol on him. In fact, he did not have any weapons on him. He left them all in the basement. Austin grunted, but ignored his ineptitude and shoved through the crowd after the man. He chased after him for a few blocks, his breath ringing through the air and shoving through people who immediately got agitated. Austin can say what he wants about himself, but the guy he is chasing is fast. He sees the guy in the coat turn on his heel and dip into an alley. Austin caught himself, slipping in the process, and sprinted down the alley after him.

The guy knocked down a stack of crates while running, blocking the path. Austin, with seconds to react, jumped and caught his toe on the boxes. He lurched forward and ended up on his hands on the ground. He pushed himself up, but by the time Austin got up, the man in the coat was about to turn a corner down the alley. But miraculously, Alison appears and punches the man in the coat in the jaw while he is turning. There is a sickening crunch in the air, and the man screams in pain as he falls toward the floor. The man catches himself and turns back toward Alison, aiming a ten millimeter pistol at her while kneeling. Austin ran forward during this and kicks the gun out of the man's hand, which makes the gun go flying and disarms the man. Alison picks up the man by the throat and slams him against the wall like a rag doll, causing a crack and a splotch of blood on the wall. The man has the instinct to duck when Alison goes for a punch, which causes Alison to punch a chunk out of the brick wall. The man tries to get up, but Alison kicks the man in the gut, making him fall again.

Austin runs to grab the man's ten millimeter and runs back, where the man is breathing and moaning but not moving. "Will he be able to talk?" Austin asks.

"No," Alison says. "Looks like some pretty bad brain damage."

"Damn it," Austin says, putting the gun in the back of his pants. "We're exposed here. Let's move him." Alison nods, and helps Austin pull the man's body into a corner where they aren't able to be seen. Austin look back at the splotch of blood on the wall and the chunk of brick on the floor. "Your synth arm did that, right?" Austin asks.

"Yeah." Alison says timidly.

"I forget how strong that thing is." Austin says. Alison smiles, which looks suspicious when dragging a body through an alley. They drop the body, and Austin pulls out the pistol, checking its ammunition. Eight bullets, but there are probably more magazines on the body. Austin puts the magazine back in the pistol and peeks around the corner, checking for back up. It's very unlikely that the guy has much back up, considering Austin just chased the guy for a few blocks with no interference. But considering he seemed to be in contact with an SMP member in the bar, it's probably safe to be on alert.

"Greene, we're in an alley on," Alison pauses, thinking. "Pickens Street. Come find us."

"On my way." Greene radios in.

A few minutes later, Greene arrives and looks at the man in the coat's body.

"Is he dead?" Greene asks. He is answered with the man in the coat moaning in pain.

"Brain damage," Austin replies, saving Alison the embarrassment. "We aren't getting anything out of him soon." Greene swears. He looks at the body and bites his lack of a lower lip.

"Were you followed," Greene asks. "Is anyone on their way?"

"Not that we know of." Alison replies. Greene nods.

"Alright," Greene says, kneeling down to examine the body. "Let's cut this son of a bitch open."

Greene pulls open the man's jacket and strips him of it while Austin and Alison watch. On the man is a black vest in a white shirt. He has a pip boy on his wrist with wires attached to his arm that go to two locations. One wire goes up his arm and to his ear, acting as an earpiece. On wire goes to a battery looking object the size of a cereal box on his hip, which has a wire that goes to his other ear.

"What do we have here?" Greene asks, putting the earpiece connected to the box on the man's waist to his ear. He taps at the man's pip boy and looks at Austin and Alison. He frowns. "It's a VATS processor, but it isn't working right. The pip boy isn't blasting which target and what boy part to shoot in my ear. This little box looking thing must be changing VATS somehow."

"What do you think it is?" Austin asks. While Austin is speaking, Greene looks at Austin like he spontaneously grew a third head and after speaking, turns back to angry and swears. "What is it?" Austin asks. Greene winces, and takes the earpiece out of his ear.

"Christ, that shit is loud," Greene says. "It's a lip reader. This SMP agent was using VATS and modifying it into a lip reader. He heard our conversation in the bar from a shit ton away." Austin runs his hands through his hair. Alison's face turns pale.

"Fuck," Austin says breathlessly. "He heard the part about the Paladins changing their names. How the hell did he find us so fast?! Why was he even investigating us?!"

"Okay, okay, okay," Alison says, trying to sound collected but laughing anxiously. "Is there any guarantee that this guy is even with the SMP?" Greene turns back and starts fiddling with the pip boy, turning the knob on the side with sharp clicks each time.

"There isn't really any guarantee," Greene says. "But he was talking with someone. He had to be. Shit, the pip boy's encrypted. We won't be able to pull anything from here, and there's no way to see who this guy is or who he's connected to."

"Come on," Austin says, his voice up an octave. "Is there anything?!" Greene makes a humming noise while flipping through the pip boy catalogs, and he eventually finds something.

"Got it," Greene says. "A radio signal with quick access. We can trace this back to its source!"

"Let's get the body back to the Bloatfly," Alison says. "Let's trace the signal fast and get going."

* * *

 **So, not only did I have to deal with Grand Nationals. That in and of itself is pretty time consuming. My laptop broke. Yay! Essentially, I couldn't write my chapters anymore. I am so sorry.**


	9. Chapter 9: Tracing the Signal

**I do not own Fallout or its characters, ideas, ect. If you have a criticism or critique, please leave a review. Special thanks to The Enclave Assassin, Kenny ZeWolf, mercyspace, DeathDealerInc.; CrimTheSoleSurvivor and LobsterMonster420 for submitting OCs. I hope you guys enjoy the chapter!**

 **God bless, JPLegends**

* * *

CHAPTER NINE: Tracing the Signal

Austin, Greene, and Alison snuck the body of the man into the Bloatfly's basement with the help of the bartender. They managed to sneak in using a cellar that leads to the basement and Austin had the friendly bartender lock the cellar door. But he knew if this guy managed to send a message to the SMP- or whoever he was working with-more powerful people would be on their way. They carried the body into the basement and set him down on a wooden table. Jericho was the first to notice them walk in, dragging a body between them. The ghoul flipped up his welding mask, showing his eyes flare up in concern and surprise.

"Woah, woah, woah," Jericho says, running over. "What happened?!" Bryson came over next, looking over the body.

"Is he…" Bryson asks.

"Brain damage." Austin and Greene say in sync. Bryson looks at Alison, who grins sheepishly and shrugs.

"Who is he? Why did you drag him in here? Why does he have a box connected to a pip-boy? What's going on…" Jericho asks, while Bryson looks over the body.

"He's SMP," Greene says. "He was spying on us while we were talking in the bar. That device on his hip turns the VATS program in the pip boy into a lip reader. He was listening in on us." Jericho and Bryson look up at the group, fear welling in their eyes.

"Fuck," Jericho says, his voice hoarse. "Did he get a message to his people?"

"I don't know." Austin says, looking down at the body.

"We don't know if he's SMP," Alison says, trying to make light of the situation. "This is a problem, granted. But….there is a possibility he isn't SMP."

"I think you're saying that because you rendered our captive incapable of giving us information," Fudono says, approaching the group surrounding the body. "Am I correct with this assumption?" Alison suddenly looks a lot more sheepish.

"Yes, sir." She says, looking at the bloody head of their guest.

"This seems to be a common trend with our captives that Alison goes for," Jericho stands back, crossing his arms and glaring at Alison. "We have the biggest security breach in the history of the Paladins, and congratulations, we have nothing to go off of."

"That's hardly fair, Jericho." Greene says, rubbing the side of his temple.

"You guys all know that it's true." Jericho says.

"Admittedly, we have lost a lot of valuable operations because of problems like this. Problems with the same source." Fudono says. Alison lowers her head in shame, her lip quivering.

"Guys, this just happened," Austin says, looking from person to person. "It's a problem that can be solved. Easily."

"You do not get a say in this." Fudono says in a deathly whisper, sending a chill down Austin's spine.

"You didn't see what happened," Austin says, keeping eye contact with Fudono. "I couldn't catch him. He could have gotten away, and all of you would be a memory by tomorrow. No matter what this…" Austin points at the body on the table. "Gets us, she caught him and stopped him from getting a full report. Alison saved all of your asses." A room turns quiet, with all of the people in the room looking at one another. Jericho shakes his head, his shoulders rising and fall as if he's trying not to laugh. Fudono squints, and then looks down at the body.

"He's right." Greene says. Austin looks at Greene's face, which looks content and smug.

'Greene liked that.' Alison still has her head down, but she is smiling warmly.

'Alison loved that.' Bryson grabs a laser pistol and hides it on his hip.

"I'll go keep watch in the bar for any suspicious activity," Bryson says. "We'll discuss our problems later. We need to stay focused on fixing this." He walks up through the exit into the Bloatfly, and leaves the others in silence.

"What are our leads?" Fudono asks.

"His pip-boy is encrypted," Greene says. "We need it cracked wide open. We can't pull what he need to know straight from that. But the radio channel is open. We can track his last transmission and pull it back from there."

"I'll get started," Jericho says, starting to fiddle with the pip-boy on the man's wrist and starting to get it off. "And what do we do with our guest?"

"I'll provide a humble abode for our captive to reside in," Fudono says. "When he comes to, we can start interrogation." Fudono picks up the body and walks into his office, closing the door. Greene shudders.

"Fudono has a tendency to be a bit….extreme when leading interrogations." Greene says.

"How extreme?" Austin asks.

"His victims have a tendency to lose a finger fingers during the session," Alison says, her eyes looking to the upper left. "And teeth. Toes. Lots of appendages." Austin grimaces. Say what you want about the Paladins, they do not shy away from dirty work. The three walk over to Jericho, who is typing away at a terminal with the pip boy connected to it.

"Any ideas?" Austin asks, crossing his arms. Jericho shakes his head, his focus locked on the screen.

"This thing is locked pretty tight," Jericho says. "Only a few people can pull off this type of programming. Elefther Corp, the SMP…. the Brotherhood of Steel. Fuck, I hope they aren't after us."

"Agreed," Austin says. The Brotherhood back in Boston were pretty lenient with what they wanted from the Commonwealth, but at the end of the day, what they ended up doing was morally dubious. And if they crossed oceans to track down the Railroad, according to what he's heard, they must be particularly aggressive in Europa. "What exactly is Elefther Corporation all about?"

"They're a group of scientists that are primarily synths," Greene says. "They supply the SMP with weapons and tech they need to keep Metroport under control, but their reach goes beyond that. They run everything from power, to farming, to water purification, to robotics. All from their big ass lab in Newport."

"They sound pretty big." Austin notes. Alison chuckles.

"They're massive," Alison says. "They've made a ton of caps supplying the war between the Brotherhood and the Railroad up north. And they've been pretty adamant about keeping the Railroad on the up and up."

"That happens when the entire Brotherhood wants to kill you," Jericho says. "If they made this encryption, we'll need either the original source or one hell of a decrypting algorithm. But the radio…." He tunes the radio and types into the terminal a bit. "I should be able to trace the signal from where he transmitted to the source….and it bounces all the way to…. Minehead?"

"The hell," Alison says. "Why Minehead?"

"Sorry, but….Minehead?" Austin asks.

"Here." Greene points to a point on the map near the channel leading into the country, and on the shore is a coastal town in ruins. It's not only quite a way away from Destle's Steppe, but it is deep into Spear territory.

"What's so special about Minehead?" Austin asks.

"Nothing," Jericho says, looking back at him. "That's why it's weird the signal is coming from there. It's so far from home, it can't be the SMP. But it's also a town that's been largely ignored by the Spear for pretty much no reason. The only others I can think of that would be there are the Brotherhood and maybe some Elefther operatives."

"Only one way to find out," Austin says. "I'll go to Minehead and check it out. You guys stay hunkered down, and call us if you get any more problems. Greene, you stay here. This stuff is more of your forte."

"You've got it," Greene says, cocking his shotgun. "I'll be here if you need me."

"Alison, we're going." Austin says, starting to walk towards the door. Alison nods and follows him out.

They head out through the entrance of the Bloatfly, trudging past the noise of the bar and onto the much quieter street. They head through the gateway, past a giant stone statue within the walls of the plaza of the town. The statue was tall, standing at attention with a long, slender sword in one hand and a pistol in the other. The figure sculpted in stone was wearing combat boots, slacks, and a buttoned up trench coat that went down to his calves. The man had a confident look about him, staring over the wall into the distance. The two stopped in the plaza to grab supplies and Austin stood, staring at the statue. When Alison came back, she joined next to him.

"Jackson Destle." Alison says. They stand in silence for a while, staring at the statue.

"Yuwen said the campaign lasted for about a year and a half," Austin says. "How come he died….how many years ago?"

"The campaign against us has been going on longer than that," Alison says. "Yuwen has been at this for eight years now. Two years in, Yuwen hit us where it hurt in the Battle of Southampton. Destle died here the following year, and a few months later, the Thousand Man Coup occurred. Mayor Compton let his SMP take control, and they wiped us out. When they thought we were dead, we had hunkered down for a bit, and Yuwen took the opportunity to take an entire county. And he hasn't slowed down in the following year."

"Did you know him?" Austin asks. Alison nods, her face warming up.

"He was kind," She reflects. "Compassionate. Brave. Brash. He would risk his life for the sake of his own every time. The mere thought of his men being killed kept him awake at night. And he never rested…..he died way too early." She pauses, looking at the ground. Austin looked at the inscription of the statue.

 _'Jackson Destle: A True Hero'_

"I wanted to thank you," Alison says, looking at Austin. "For standing up for me in there. The fact we can't get anything out of our prisoner is my fault, but….well, it's fun watching you shout at Fudono." Austin chuckles.

"I think Greene would gladly agree with that," Austin shoots back. "You didn't deserve that flak." Alison smiles. She turns on her heel and starts walking for the gate.

"Let's find these bastards," Alison says, her voice suddenly confident and upbeat. "And let's make them hurt."

* * *

 **I've got absolutely nothing to say. How fun.**


End file.
